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3 3433 070248657
Jstf&h+tmLs ufae v/7
PROCEEDINGS
OF THE
SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH.
VOLUME v r.
(CONTAINING PARTS XV— XVII.)
1889—90.
London :
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER and CO., Limited,
LUDGATE HILL.
1890. /h-
London :
National Press Agency, Limited,
13, Whitefriars Street, E.C.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Address by the President, Professor Sidowick, on The Canons of
Evidence in Psychical Research 1
Address by the President on The Census of Hallucinations ... 7
On Recognised Apparitions Occurring more than a Year after Death. By
F. W. H. Myers 13
Further Experiments in Hypnotic Lucidity or Clairvoyance. By Pro-
fessor Charles Richet 66
Duplex Personality. An Essay on the Analogy between Hypnotic
Phenomena and certain Experiences of the Normal Consciousness.
By Thomas Barkworth 84
Notes of Seances with D. D. Home. By William Crookes, F. R. S. 98^
Experiments in Thought-Transference. By Professor and Mrs. H.
Sidowick, and Mr. G. A. Smith " 128
Supplement.
I. International Congress of Experimental Psychology. By A. T.
Myers, M.D 171
II. Ad Interim Report on the Census of Hallucinations . . . 183
in. Professor Pierre Janet's " Automatisme Psychologique. " By
Frederic W. H. Myers 186
»
IV. Binet on the Consciousness of Hysterical Subjects. By F.W.H.
Myers . 200
V. "DasDoppel-Ich." By F. W. H. Myers 207
VI. Dr. «,ules Janet on Hysteria and Double Personality. By
F. W. H Myers 216
VU. Professor Liegeois on Suggestion and Somnambulism in Relation
to Jurisprudence. By Walter Leaf, Litt. D. . . . 222
VIII. Two Books on Hypnotism. By Walter Leaf, Litt. D. . . 226
Phantasms of the Dead from Another Point of View. By F. Podmore . 229
A Defence of Phantasms of the Dead. By F. W. H. Myers . . 314
A Record of Telepathic and Other Experiences. By the Author of
" A Record of Recent Experiments in Crystal Vision " . . 358
Experimental Coni[)arison between Chance and Thought-Transference
ir Corr^pondence of Diagrams. By Lieut. -Colonel ft. Le M. Taylor 398
Supplement.
I. Observations on Clairvoyance, &c. By Drs. Dufay and Azam . 407
Address by the President, Professor Sidowick, on the Census of
Hallucinations (his second address on this subject) . . . 429
A Record of Observations of Certain Phenomena of Trance —
(1) Introduction, by F. W. H. Myers . . . .436
(2) PartL, by Professor O. J. Lodge, F.R.fc. . . 4A&
(3) Part II., by Walter Leaf, Litt. D.
(4) Index to Items in Parts I. and II., Hpeemlly difficult
to explain by direct tin nigh t-tnmsference. By p
Professor O. J. Lodok, F. R. S. . . . J*
(5) Part III., by Profehmou William James, of Harvard >'
University. .... ... 66
SUPPLEMENT.
I. Second Ad Interim Report on the Census of Hallucinations . fift
II. Review of A. Aksakof's Animismus and Spiritisnius. By
F. W. H. Myers . 68!
Supplementary Catalogue of the Edmund (iunioy Library . . .671
List of Members and Associates i\~\
List of Members and Associates of the American Branch .691
I
p
SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH.
L
•HE CANONS OF EVIDENCE IN PSYCHICAL RESEARCH.
Address given by the President, Professor Sidgwick, at the thirty-
cond General Meeting of the Society, held at the Westminster Town
raU, on May 10th, 1889.
I may begin by apologising for the pretentiousness of my announce-
ent, which will, I fear, lead those who read it to expect a more precise
id detailed statement of the rules to be followed in such an investiga-
te as ours than I am at all prepared to offer.
As will appear, my view is that the investigation is inevitably of
o obscure and tentative a kind to render it possible to treat it by any
;ry exact method ; but there are certain general, though vague, princi-
es which seem to me reasonable in dealing with the kind of evidence
tat comes before us, and which the very obscurity and tentativeness
: the inquiry renders it desirable to put forward for discussion.
I mean by " the kind of evidence " evidence for marvels ; evidence
Hiding to prove the intrusion — if I may so call it — into the world of
rdinary experience, material or mental, either of causes that find no
lace at all in science — i.e., in our systematised knowledge of the world
i experience — or of unknown modes of operation of known causes.
That there is an immense divergence of opinions among thoughtful
arsons as to the manner in which this evidence should be dealt with is
ihown in other ways than in the criticism passed on our work ; it is
ihown, e.g., in the controversies that from time to time go on between the
representatives of orthodox theology and the lights of modern science.
But the question of the evidential value of narratives of miracles, as
credentials of a prophet or teacher sent from God, is complicated with
profound philosophical and ethical considerations which do not enter
into the question with which we are concerned. Most thoughtful
▼riters on Christian evidences in the present age would, I think, agree
that the evidence which the marvellous narratives of the Gospels afford
°f the Divine origin of Christianity must be taken in connection with
the direct appeal that Christianity makes to the moral and religious
consciousness of the individual ; thus, e.g., if we had similar evidence
tending to show the Divine origin of such a religion as Mormonism, we
certainly refuse to regard it as conclusive.
B
2 The Canons of Evidence in Psychical Research. [May l1
In this religious controversy, therefore, we do not have the question
of the right scientific attitude to take up towards evidence for marve/li
as such, presented in a simple form. To find it so presented, we must
turn to our own inquiry. Any member of our Society who has followed
the controversy to which our publications have given rise must have
felt that, as regards what is to most the most interesting subject of
our investigation — the possible action of intelligences other than those
of living human beings in the world of our experience — we occupy a
very peculiar position. It is not only that we are attacked with equal
vigour by Materialists and Spiritualists : but that each of the opposing
parties attributes to us an extreme and irrational bias in favour of the
other extreme. Our materialistic opponents seem to hold that there is
practically no difference worth considering, in respect of credulity and
superstition, between admitting the evidence of Spiritualists to be
deserving of serious and systematic consideration, and accepting their
conclusions ; while the Spiritualists seem to think that the manner
in which we treat their evidence shows that we are as obstinately
prejudiced against their conclusions as the most bigoted Materialists
can be.
I do not infer from this that the position. which we thus occupy be-
tween the extremes is necessarily a right position : for, granting that
truth generally lies somewhere between extreme views, it is obvious that
the wider the interval between the extremes,' the greater the chance that
any particular position taken up in this interval may itself be remote
from the truth. My object is rather to show how vast the intellectual
interval is between the opposing extremes, when our intermediate posi-
tion is thus viewed on either side as almost indistinguishable from the
opposite extreme.
What, then, is the cause of this immense divergence as to the right
manner of dealing with the evidence ? Is it possible by any reasoning
to diminish it, and to bring the divergent extremes to something more
like a mutual understanding ? These questions naturally force them-
selves on us : and from our intermediate position, subjected as it is to
vehement attacks from both sides, we are, I think, very favourably
situated for considering the question.
It is this question that I wish briefly to deal with this evening.
I wish to show that in such inquiries as ours it is inevitable that there
should be a very wide margin within which neither side can prove, or
ought to try to prove, that the other is wrong : because the important
considerations, the proa and cons that have to be weighed against
each other, are not capable of being estimated with any exactness.
And therefore there is properly a very wide interval between the point
— as regards weight of evidence — at which it is reasonable to embark
upon an inquiry of this kind, and the point at which it is reasonable
• ••
1889.] The Canons of Evidence in Psychical Research. 3
to come to a positive decision. Moreover, it would save useless
controversy to keep in mind, that the considerations in favour of accept-
ing the evidence for the marvels as real is necessarily and reasonably
taken at a different value by different persons, according to the different
relations in which they stand to it.
Let me first state briefly why the decisive considerations cannot be
estimated with any exactness. In considering whether the evidence
for a marvellous fact is to be taken as true and adequate we have
necessarily to compare opposing improbabilities : it is improbable that
the marvel should have really happened, and it is improbable that the
testimony to its happening should be false — otherwise the testimony
would not be what we call evidence at all.
Now these opposing improbabilities are quite diverse, and we have
no intellectual scales in which we can weigh them accurately one against
the other. Some of our opponents offer us, by way of such scales,
Hume's summary argument against miracles : " It is contrary to experi-
ence that miracles should be true, and not contrary to experience that
testimony should be false." But in saying that a marvel is contrary to
experience we can mean no more than that it is unlike previous
experience — or rather that it is unlike that portion of experience which
has been collected, handed down, and systematised by competent
persons. But this only means that it is entirely novel and strange :
and in the course of the life of the human race, during the period in
which it has handed down and communicated experiences, different
portions of mankind have been continually coming across things that
were at first entirely novel and strange, though further acquaintance
has rendered them familiar.
Let us take the strangest of the marvels that we are investigating,
the physical phenomena of Spiritualism : and let us grant — for the
sake of argument — that they are as strange to human experience as
they certainly are to modern science. No one will maintain that it is
impossible that the human race should ever come across anything so
entirely novel in the course of its accumulation of experiences ; they
can only say that it is highly improbable. What is impossible is to
estimate this improbability with anything like exactness : since to make
such an estimate we should require to ascertain the proportion that
what we do know about the universe bears to what we do not know
about it ; and that proportion is certainly one of the things that we do
not know.
We are, therefore, in this position — not very satisfactory to the
logical mind, but one that we are bound to face : we must admit that
the statement of a fact novel beyond a certain degree of novelty is in
itself an improbable statement, and that the improbability grows as the
novelty grows : but we must admit that no one can pretend to lay down
4 The Canons of Evidence in Psychical Research, [May
at what rate the improbability grows. The improbability of cou^e
vanishes when we come to understand the conditions of the marvel, since
this process of "understanding" — as we call it — brings it into harmony
with the rest of our experience : but till we have reached this under-
standing the improbability must remain solid but indefinite, and all we
can do is to weigh this improbability — not in any scales furnished by
exact science, but in the rough scales of common-sense — against the
improbability that the testimony should be false. The greater the
marvel, the better must be the testimony ; of that common-sense has
no doubt ; but it is impossible to say precisely what accumulation of
testimony is required to balance a given magnitude of marvel.
Some of the advocates of Modern Spiritualism are inclined to join
issue with common-sense on this point. They say, If you admit that the
marvel in question is not strictly impossible, and the testimony would
be amply sufficient, in quantity and quality, to establish any ordinary
fact, would be accepted without hesitation in law courts, and in the
ordinary affairs of life, you ought not bo treat it with exceptional sus-
picion because the fact is novel and extraordinary. Now, doubtless, as
Dr. Butler says, " Probability is the guide of life," and, therefore,
when it is highly improbable that testimony should be false, we treat
this improbability as if it were equivalent practically to negative
certainty in ordinary affairs. But this only happens when there is no
opposing improbability of equal weight : when in law courts, or in
ordinary life we are met with conflicting improbabilities — as (e.g.) when
two generally trustworthy persons contradict each other — then the
degree of improbability of either being wrong has to be roughly esti-
mated and is estimated for practical purposes. And, similarly, when
the improbability of a marvel is met by the improbability of testimony
being false, we have to make some kind of estimate of the latter,
and in so doing to take note carefully of different sources of possible
error. I need not dwell on these sources of error, as our Proceedings
have by this time made us all very familiar with the different species.
The chief are (1) alteration of a narrative or tradition, when it is not
obtained at first hand ; (2) errors in memory, when the narrative is told
after lapse of time ; (3) errors in the actual apprehension of fact, partly
through failure to observe material circumstances, partly through the
mingling of inference with observation. But as regards this last source
of error, it may be worth while to observe that an important part of
our work — in collecting evidence for telepathy — was free from it, and
was thereby in a decidedly advantageous position as compared (e.g.)
with the inquiry into the physical phenomena of Spiritualism. For in
the proof that " Phantasms of the Living " are sometimes " veridical " —
i,e., correspond to deaths or other critical events in the life of the
persons they represent — we are only concerned with observation of a
1889.] The Canons of Evidence in Psychical Research. 5
mental fact, as to which the observer cannot be mistaken : in his state-
ment that a distant friend appeared to be in his room, there can be no
erroneous inference ; error only comes in if he infers that the friend
was physically there. The fact of the apparition is undeniable, and
that fact is all we require for our argument. But in dealing with the
evidence for physical phenomena this source of error has to be guarded
against. If a man tells us that he saw a table get off the ground with
no one touching it, though the fact that he had this impression is
interesting and noteworthy, it is not complete proof of the levitation
of the table ; we have still to inquire whether the impression on his
mind could be produced otherwise than by the physical fact. If there
was anyone else there, it is pritnd facie possible that he may have
produced an illusion in the narrator's mind ; therefore it becomes need-
ful (1) to study the art of producing illusions, and (2) to examine how
far the situation and circumstances of the narrator at the time at which
the impression was produced, gave opportunities for the exercise of this
art. We have also, of course, to consider the possibility of the observer
having been in an abnormal state of nerves or mind, tending to make
self-deception natural — and even perhaps deception of others.
My object now is not to emphasise these sources of error; but
rather to show how in every case the probabilities are only capable of
being vaguely estimated ; and how in many cases they must necessarily
be estimated differently by different persons, according to their know-
ledge of the persons concerned. It is for this reason that I feel that a
part of my grounds for believing in telepathy, depending, as it does,
on personal knowledge, cannot be communicated except in a weakened
form to the ordinary reader of the printed statements which represent
the evidence that has convinced me. Indeed, I feel this so strongly
that I have always made it my highest ambition as a psychical researcher
to produce evidence which will drive my opponents to doubt my honesty
or veracity ; I think that there are a very small minority of persons
who will not doubt them, and that if I can convince them I have done
all that I can do : as regards the majority even of my own acquaintances
I should claim no more than an admission that they were considerably
surprised to find me in the trick.
Perhaps my hearers may be inclined to ask me whether, having
reduced the arguments on both sides to this degree of indefiniteness, I
wish to leave the matter in this hazy condition. No ; that is just
what I do not wish to do. But I think it will be a long process
getting it out of this condition, and one that demands patience. What
anyone has to do who is convinced himself of the reality of any alleged
marvel, is first to try, if he can, to diminish the improbability of the
marvel by offering an explanation which harmonises it with other parts of
our experience ; and second!/, to increase the improbability on t\vfc &\fa
6 The Canons of Evidence in Psychical Research. [May
of the testimony, by accumulating experiences and varying condit
and witnesses.
And may I conclude by saying again what I said last time, that
sidering the difficulties in which our investigation is involved, I thin
unreasonable to complain at our slow rate of progress. I feel confk
that if at the end of the next seven years we and our cause have n
as much way as has been made in the seven that have elapsed,
whole attitude of at least the progressive past of the scientific wc
in relation to the subjects that we are studying, will be fundament
changed.
1889.] The Census of HallucinatioTis.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE GENERAL MEETING ON
July 8th, 1889.
The thirty-third General Meeting of the Society was held at the
Westminster Town Hall, on July 8th, 1889.
The President, Professor Sidgwick, in the Chair.
The programme consisted of an address by the President, and a
paper by Mr. F. W. H. Myers on " Recognised Apparitions
Occurring more than a Year after Death," both of which are printed
below.
n.
Address by the President on
THE CENSUS OF HALLUCINATIONS.
It is known to all members and associates of the Society for
Psychical Research — at least to all who read this journal — that an
attempt is being made on a large scale to obtain as accurate statistics
as possible relative to the frequency, the specific nature, and — so far
as may be — the causes of what I will briefly call Hallucinations.
The scale on which we are planning our census of Hallucinations
is an ambitious one : it must be an ambitious one if we are to succeed
in our aim ; I do not think we can be satisfied with less than 50,000
answers to the first and most general question that we are asking ;
and if we are to get 50,000 answers, we want a great deal more assis-
tance than we have as yet got.
I wish to express my gratitude, and the gratitude of those who are
working with me, to the members and others who are aiding us in this
toilsome task ; at the same time, I wish to urge on all members and
associates who have not yet offered aid that this is eminently a task for
co-operative labour, in which everyone interested in Psychical Research
ought to take a share. A copy of the single question that we wish to
be asked in all cases has been sent to every member and associate,
with spaces for 25 answers ; we shall be happy to send any more copies
to anyone who will apply for them ; and if every member and associate
would only collect a single batch of twenty-five answers, and
persuade some one friend to collect another batch, we should get in
this way over 30,000 answers and should have no doubt of being able
to make up our 50,000.
I fear, however, that it is too much to expect this universal
co-operation. I hope, therefore, that every zealous person will collect,
either personally or by friends, as many batches as possftAfc. KxA \
8 The Census of Hallucinations. [July 8t
may add that we shall equally welcome assistance from persons who
are not members or associates. I ought to add that we have carefully
framed our question so that we may fairly ask for co-operation from
persons of all opinions ; it does not imply either belief or disbelief in
the reality of ghosts, or in telepathy, or in any other explanation of the
phenomena inquired into. It runs as follows : " Have you ever,
when believing yourself to be completely awake, had a vivid impression
of seeing or being touched by a living being or inanimate object, or of
hearing a voice, which impression, so far as you could discover, was
not due to an external physical cause ? " I hope it will be seen how
impartially the question has been framed. The most bigoted Materialist
does not deny that certain persons have the impressions here described;
the most convinced Spiritualist does not usually attribute them to an
" external physical cause."
This leads me to say a word on the general term used to denote
these experiences. We require some one general term, and the best
that we can find to include all the species is " Hallucination." I
admit the word to be open to some objection ; because some people
naturally understand from it that the impression so described is
entirely false and morbid. But I need not say to readers of
" Phantasms " that this is not our view : many of these experiences —
though doubtless they all involve some disturbance of the normal
action of the nervous system — have no traceable connection with
disease of any kind : and a certain number of them are, as we hold,
reasonably regarded as " veridical " or truth-telling ; they imply in
the percipient a capacity above the normal of receiving knowledge,
under certain rare conditions.
Why, then, it may be asked, do we use a term that implies
erroneous and illusory belief? I answer, first, because in every experi-
ence that we call a Hallucination there is an element of erroneous
belief, though it may be only momentary, and though it may be the
means of communicating a truth that could not otherwise have been
known. If I seem to see the form of a friend pass through my room,
I must have momentarily the false belief that his physical organism is
occupying a portion of the space of my room, though a moment's reflection
may convince me that this is not so, and though I may immediately
draw the inference that he is passing through a crisis of life some miles
off, and this inference may turn out to be true. In the case of a
recurrent Hallucination known to be such, we cannot say that the
false belief ever completely dominates the percipient's mind ; but still, I
conceive, it is partially there ; here is an appearance that has to be
resisted by memory and judgment.
It is, then, this element of error — perhaps only momentary and
^rtial — which is implied in our term " HaUucmaium" oiv& %o tcy\x<iV
1889.] The Census of HaUucvnations. 9
will be admitted by most intelligent believers in ghosts : for there are
few of such believers who really hold that a ghost is actually seen as
an ordinary material object is seen : i.e., that it affects the percipient's
eyes from the outside by reflecting rays of light on them. But we wish
even those ghost-seers who hold this belief to have no difficulty in answer-
ing " Yes " to our general question : and therefore in framing it we
avoided the word " Hallucination," though we have thought ourselves
justified in using it in the " Instructions to Collectors " at the back of
the paper.
And all would certainly admit that in many cases " Hallucination "
is the only proper term. For instance, one of our informants saw a
hand and arm apparently suspended from the ceiling — the owner of
the real counterpart of this hand and arm being alive and heard at the
time moving about in the next room.
The word " apparition " is, no doubt, a neutral word that might be
used of all visual experiences of this kind ; but it could only be used of
visual cases. Usage would not allow us to apply it to apparent sounds
or apparent touches.
I think, then, that we must use " hallucinations of the senses " as a
general term for the experiences we are collecting : meaning simply to
denote by it a sensory effect which we cannot attribute to any external
physical cause of the kind that would ordinarily produce this effect.
In some cases we can refer it clearly to a physical cause within the
organism — some temporary or permanent physical condition. In other
cases — quite apart from telepathy — it is equally clear that the cause is
primarily psychical. For instance, in the case of persons who have
been hypnotised, it may result from a post-hypnotic order. Thus in an
article by Mr. Gurney, in Proceedings, Part XII., pp. 12, 13, there is an
interesting account of the result of a suggestion made by him to a
subject named Zillah in the hypnotic trance, that she would have a
hallucination of him at a certain fixed time on the following day ; and
there is a letter from Zillah's mistress describing the surprise caused
to Zillah by seeing Mr. Gurney come into the kitchen and say " Good-
afternoon," at the appointed time. Here we can trace the origin of the
idea which thus externalised itself. In other cases, as with the arm
above mentioned, the idea arises spontaneously by association or other-
wise in the mind. In other cases, again, the idea which thus externalises
itself may, as we believe, come into the mind from the mind of a
person at a distance — the idea of a dying friend reaching us from his
mind and rising above the threshold of consciousness in the form of a
hallucination, just as the idea of Mr. Gurney rose above the
threshold of consciousness in Zillah's case in the form of a hallucination.
A link between the two is afforded by those rare and interesting
cases, of which several have been recorded in the publications oi out
10 The Census of Hallucinations. [July 8,
Society, where one person is able from a distance and by a mental pro-
cess alone to cause an apparition of himself to another. We have reason
to think that the resulting sensory effect is in all these cases essentially
the same, though the cause of it is very different in different cases ; and,
therefore, in the present state of our knowledge, it seems best to apply
the term " hallucination " to all.
I have dwelt thus long upon the use of the word hallucination —
because the discussion brings out incidentally the importance of
making the statistical inquiry we are engaged in as to the kind of
hallucinations that occur, and the proportion of people that experience
them. It is clear from what we have said that the subject of hallu-
cinations is of importance to psychologists and physiologists, for whom
they throw light on the workings of the mind and senses. And it is
also of some practical use to inquire into them with a view to dispelling
the alarm they frequently cause. But it is for those interested in
Psychical Research that they are at present most important — and that
whether they are supporters or opponents. For those who believe in
telepathy it is of course very important to study as completely as
possible the mode in which, as it appears, telepathically imparted ideas
are apt to manifest themselves. But, apart from this, it is absolutely
necessary, in order to prove that the hallucinations of dying persons
are really connected with their death, to form some idea of the relative
frequency of such hallucinations compared with those which do not
correspond with any external event. Apparitions of living persons
when nothing seemingly is happening to them are common- — much
commoner than veridical ones. Mr. Gurney calculated that, if a man
saw an apparition of his friend, he would be justified in assuming the
chance that his friend had died within an hour of that time as about
1 in 40. If this conclusion be correctly drawn from adequate data, we
need not feel extremely alarmed about our friend if we see his-apparition;
though, at the same time, the frequency of the coincidence is very far
beyond what chance would give. But it has been doubted whether the
number of answers which Mr. Gurney collected — 5,700 — is sufficient
to give accurately the proportion of the population who have seen
apparitions ; and Mr. Gurney himself considered it quite insufficient
to determine the proportion of coincidental to non-coincidental cases.
To arrive at this he endeavoured to form an estimate of the size of
the circle from which our veridical cases are drawn. This is necessarily
extremely uncertain, and though I think the estimate given in
PJiantasms is probably in excess of the truth and therefore allows
a margin against the telepathic hypothesis, this view has not been
taken by critics of that work, some of whom think that the circle has
not been assumed large enough. At any rate we should all agree with
the critics in thinking that it would be muc\x Ytetofex Si ^* ws-oid
1889.] The Census of HaUuvmations. 11
dispense with conjecture altogether and know the experiences of a
sufficient number of persons to enable us to tell from the statistics
alone what proportion of the population have hallucinations and what
proportion of these are coincidental. If we can collect 50,000 answers
I think we could do this, but the coincidental cases are too rare for us
to rely on a smaller number.
[Some account of the progress of the census so far was here given.
An account of the answers received up to October 24th, 1889, will be
found in the Supplement.]
I have tried to show that all the phenomena to which our question
relates — veridical or not — should be called hallucinations. I must,
however, admit that it is not very easy to draw the line unmistakably
between what is a hallucination and what is not. The difficulty meets
us in all directions. For instance, are sounds heard in a so-called
haunted house hallucinations or are they real sounds? This question
would be answered differently by different persons, and it was because
we felt that hopeless ambiguity would be introduced into our results
by including noises as distinct from voices that we limited our inquiry
in auditory experiences to voices. But the difficulty of drawing
the line is not thus entirely avoided. It is often difficult to decide on
the degree of externalisation of an experience both in visual and
auditory cases. For instance, it may be asked — how does a vivid
visual impression seen with the eyes shut count, and how does this
differ from an apparition seen in the dark ? Or again, how far is the
kind of experience which is sometimes described as an internal voice,
or as a soundless sound, an auditory hallucination ? I do not think
that in fact there is any sharp line between such a mental image as
most of us can call up and a genuine hallucination — experiences of all
degrees of externalisation occur between the two. There are some
which we have no hesitation in calling hallucinations and some which
we can equally confidently say are not, but there are some which it is
difficult to decide about. As regards these, I would say to those who
answer our question — put down either yes or a query, and give details,
leaving to the Committee who will have to analyse the results the
burden of deciding how they should be classed.
One other point of doubt about our question may here be men-
tioned. We determined to secure as far as possible that our answers
should be the bond fide answers of grown-up people by asking the
question only of people who have attained the age of 21. But we
did not mean by this, as has been understood in some cases, to
exclude experiences which had occurred to those answering at any age.
Again some collectors have asked me whether uneducated people
may be included in the census. There is no objection to this — indeed
I think it desirable to include al] classes — but collectors ^wiSX faA.
12 The Cenms of HMucinations. [July 8,
that a good deal of care and trouble must be taken to make sure
that uneducated people quite understand the question.
I have kept to the last the most important of the special points to
which I wish to draw attention. It is not only necessary, as I have
said, that our census shall be sufficiently extensive, but it is also of
fundamental importance that it shall be impartial, that the collector
should not yield to any bias in favour of collecting either positive or
negative answers. It is, of course, natural that the collector should be
more interested in obtaining experiences of the positive kind, and it is,
of course, very probable that when it is known in his circle of friends
and acquaintances that he is making this collection, that cases of such
experiences should be mentioned to him. It is, however, obvious that
if answers to which he is directed in this way were simply included in
his list without any special mark, the impartiality of the result would
be fundamentally vitiated. In order to guard against this danger,
and at the same time not to lose any information which might have an
important value for our inquiry, we advise all our collectors when they
send in their lists, to put a cross against any answer the nature of which
was known to them through information received before they asked the
question.
1889.] On Recognised Apparitions. 13
III.
ON RECOGNISED APPARITIONS OCCURRING MORE
THAN A TEAR AFTER DEATH.1
By F. W. H. Myers.
The last Part of these Proceedings included an exposition, — begun
by the late Mr. Edmund Gurney and completed by myself, — of the
principal cases in our possession where an apparition occurring soon
after the death of the person figured seems plausibly referable to some
other than a merely subjective origin ; — seems, in fact, to have been
telepathic or veridical, — a real communication from some mind outside
the percipient's own. In choosing these cases a line was drawn at a
year after death ; — a line partly arbitrary, but partly determined by
the fact that after that lapse of time recognised apparitions with even
a prima facie claim to be classed as veridical, become exceedingly rare.
They are rare, and they are in many ways perplexing ; but it is
none the less our duty to discuss theni. Inconclusive when considered
by themselves, they are full of instruction when we compare them with
the larger groups which include apparitions at or shortly after death.
The momentous step, of course, is already taken so soon as we
consent to refer any post-mortem apparition, — dating even from the
morrow of the death, — to the continued agency of the decedent. Few
readers will question the assumption that in that unknown journey
ce riest que le premier pas qui codte.
And since we are standing here on the threshold of new per-
plexities, let us pause for a moment and consider what is the
phenomenon which we are looking for, — what connotation we are to
give to the word "ghost," — a word which has embodied so many
unfounded theories and causeless fears. It would be more satisfactory,
in the present state of our knowledge, simply to collect facts without
offering speculative comment. But it seems safer to begin by briefly
pointing out the manifest errors of the traditional view ; since that
1 The papers in these Proceedings which deal with evidence aim rather at setting
forth that evidence accurately and impartially than at expressing — what is compara-
tively unimportant — the precise degree of belief at which the writer himself may
have arrived. But in these papers on posthumous apparitions the hypotheses
discussed are at once so momentous and so disputable that it seems well to repeat here
the notice prefixed to all these Proceedings, and to remind the reader that I am not
speaking as the mouthpiece of my colleagues in the Council of the S.P.R. Various
converging lines of evidence have led me individually to think it probable that in some
at least of the cases here cited there has been a real agency of deceased persons. But
no one else is responsible for that opinion ; nor do I even claim ttoaX t\& vrutaxusfe
cited is enough to prove its truth.
14 On Recognised Apparitions occurring [July 8,
tradition, if left unnoticed, would remain lodged in the background
even of many minds which have never really accepted it.
Briefly, then, the popular view regards a "ghost" as a deceased
person permitted by Providence to hold communication with survivors. .
And this short definition contains, I think, at least three unwarrantable
assumptions.
In the first place, such words as permission and Providence are
simply neither more nor less applicable to this phenomenon than to
any other. We conceive that all phenomena alike take place in
accordance with the laws of the universe ; — and consequently by
permission of the Supreme Power in the universe. Undoubtedly the
phenomena with which we are dealing are in this sense permitted to
occur. But there is no a priori reason whatever for assuming that
they are permitted in any especial sense of their own, or that they form
exceptions to law, instead of being exemplifications of law. Nor is
there any a posteriori reason for thus supposing, — any such inference
deducible from a study of the phenomena themselves. If we attempt
to find in these phenomena any poetical justice, or manifest adaptation
to human cravings, we shall be just as much disappointed as if we
endeavoured to find a similar satisfaction in the ordinary course of
terrene history.
In the second place, we have no warrant for the assumption that
the phantom seen, even though it be somehow caused by a deceased
person, is that deceased person, in any ordinary sense of the word.
Instead of appealing to the crude analogy of the living friend who,
when he has walked into the room, is- in the room, we shall find for the
ghost a much closer parallel in those hallucinatory figures or phantasms
which living persons can sometimes project at a distance. When
Baron von Notzing, for instance, caused by an effort of will
an apparition of himself to a waking percipient, out of sight, he was
himself awake and conscious in the place where, not his phantom but
his body stood. Whatever, then, that phantom was, — however
generated or conditioned, — we cannot say that it was himself. And
equally unjustifiable must be the common parlance which speaks of the
ghost as though it were the decedent himself — a revenant coming back
amongst living men.
All this, of course, will be already familiar to most of my readers,
and only needs repetition here because experience shows that when — as
with these post-mortem phantoms — the decedent has gone well out of
sight or reach, there is a fresh tendency (so to say) to anthropomorphise
the apparition; to suppose that, as the decedent is not provably
anywhere else, he is probably here ; and that the apparition is bound
behave accordingly. All such assumptions must Y» d\svaias&d^ and
hantom must be taken on its merits, — as imi\e»fe\n% \a«t^3 *
1889.] More than a Year after Death. 15
certain connection with the decedent, the precise nature of that
connection being a part of the problem to be solved.
And in the third place, just as we cease to say that the phantom is
the decedent, so also must we cease to ascribe to the phantom the
motives by which we imagine that the decedent might be swayed. We
most therefore exclude from our definition of a ghost any words which
assume its intention to communicate with the living. It may bear
such a relation to the decedent that it can reflect or represent his
presumed wish to communicate, or it may not. If, for instance, its
relation to his postmortem life be like the relation of my dreams to my
earthly life, it may represent little that is truly his, save such vague
memories and instincts as give a dim individuality to each man's trivial
dreams.
Let us attempt, then, a truer definition. Instead of describing a
" ghost " as a dead person permitted to communicate with the living,
let us define it as a manifestation of persistent personal energy, — or as
an indication that some kind of force is being exercised after death
which is in some way connected with a person previously known on
earth. In this definition we have eliminated, as will be seen, a great
mass of popular assumptions. Yet we must introduce a further
proviso, lest our definition still seem to imply an assumption which we
have no right to make. It is theoretically possible that this force or
influence which, after a man's death, creates a phantasmal impression
of him, may indicate no continuing action on his part, but may be some
residue of the force or energy which he generated while yet alive.
There may be veridical after-images ; — such as Mr. Gurney hints at
(Proceedings, Vol. IV., p. 417), when in his comments on the recurring
figure of an old woman ; — seen on the bed where she was murdered, —
he remarks that this figure suggests "not so much any continuing local
action on the part of the deceased person, as the survival of a mere
image, impressed, we cannot <*uess how, on we cannot guess what, by
that person's physical org&iiism, and perceptible at times to those
endowed with some cognate form of sensitiveness."
Strange as this notion may seem, it is strongly suggested by many
of the cases of haunting which do not fall within the scope of the
present paper. It will be remembered that Mrs. Sidgwick's paper on
Phantasms of the Dead brought out the fact that there is strong
evidence for the recurrence of the same hallucinatory figures in
the same localities, but weak evidence to indicate any purpose in
most of these figures, or any connection with bygone individuals, or
with such tragedies as are popularly supposed to start a ghost on its
career. In some of these cases of frequent, meaningless recurrence
of a figure in a given spot, we are driven to wonder whether it raav
be some decedents past frequentation of that spot, rather V\i&tl ^.t^
16 On Recognised Apparitions occurring [July 8,
fresh action of his after death, which has generated what I have
termed the veridical after-image, — veridical in the sense that it com-
municates information, previously unknown to the percipient, as to a
former inhabitant of the haunted locality.
Such are some of the questions which our evidence suggests. And
I may point out that the very fact that such bizarre problems should
present themselves at every turn does in a certain sense tend to show*
that these apparitions are not purely subjective things, — do not
originate merely in the percipient's imagination. For they are not like
what any man would have imagined. What man's mind tends to fancy
on such topics may be seen in the endless crop of fictitious ghost-stories;
— which furnish, indeed, a curious proof of the persistence of pre-
conceived notions. For they go on being framed according to canons
of their own, and deal with a set of imaginary phenomena quite
different from those which actually occur. The actual phenomena, I
may add, could scarcely be made romantic. One true " ghost-story "
is apt to be very like another ; — and all to be fragmentary and
apparently meaningless. Their meaning, that is to say, lies in their
conformity, not to the mythopceic instinct of mankind, which fabricates
and enjoys the fictitious tales, but to some unknown law, not based on
human sentiment or convenience at all.
And thus, absurdly enough, we sometimes hear men ridicule the
phenomena which actually do happen, simply because those phenomena
do not suit their preconceived notions of what ghostly phenomena
ought to be ; — not perceiving that this very divergence, this very
unexpectedness, is in itself no slight indication of an origin outside the
minds which obviously were so far from anticipating anything of the kind.
All this needs to be remembered before we approach the special
cases which form the subject of this paper. For the narratives on
which we shall now have to dwell are precisely those which do the most
nearly correspond to the popular view of what a ghost should be. They
are cases, at any rate, where the figure was recognised, and in some of
which there was an apparent object in its appearance. , It is, of course,
not the emotional but the evidential value of these recognitions which
interests us here. The identification of a figure previously unknown,
or of a previously known figure under certain conditions, is naturally a
point de repere of first-rate evidential importance.
Two main points have to be made clear in every such case. Firstly,
we have to assure ourselves that the apparition was really veridical, —
not a mere subjective hallucination, or a trick of memory, or a hoax.
And, secondly, we have to make sure that it was really recognised ; —
that some kind of link existed between the phantasm and some
deceased person. Some kind of link we demand *, but what that link
*ie, — in what sense the ghost represents tYie decedent, — ^\& \& ova
1889.] More than a Year after Death. 17
most perplexing question. And in order to get what light we can on
this point, it will be well to arrange our cases in what may be called a
descending scale of personality ; — beginning with those where there
seems to be an intelligent purpose in the phantom ; then giving those
where there seems to be a purpose, but not in our sense an intelligent
one ; and lastly, taking those where no purpose is discernible, but the
whole manifestation seems like a dead man's incoherent dream.
The difficulties and weaknesses of the evidence will be pointed out
as we proceed. And finally we may discuss, by the aid of such
analogies as we possess, what are the least improbable conjectures
which we can form as to the nature of these phantoms, and what light
our evidence throws upon any theory of post-mortem existence.
1. Let us begin, then, with phantoms raised, so to say, to their
highest power; — apparently showing intelligence, and knowledge of
earthly matters. Are there any grounds, we may in the first place ask,
for the popular notion that ghosts may possess more knowledge of
things on earth than survivors possess 1 Especially that they come to
warn of death or disaster which for men on earth is still hidden in
obscurity ? Or can they discern physical dangers, — robbers, precipices,
or the like, — which the living man fails to see? and do they ever
intervene to guide or protect him ?
It will be seen that we have very little evidence which points to
such powers as these. I will begin with the most striking case ; — one
which was sent in 1887 to the American S.P.R. Professor Royce and
Mr. Hodgson vouch for the high character and good position of the
informants ; and it will be seen that, besides the percipient himself, his
father and brother are first-hand witnesses as regards the most
important point ; — the effect produced by a certain symbolic item in
the phantom's aspect.
I. — From Mr. F. G., Boston.
Janttary 11th, 1888.
Sir, — Replying to the recently published request of your Society for
actual occurrences of psychical phenomena, I respectfully submit the fol-
lowing remarkable occurrence to the consideration of your distinguished
Society, with the assurance that the event made a more powerful impression
on my mind than the combined incidents of my whole life. I have never
mentioned it outside of my family and a few intimate friends, knowing well
that few would believe it, or else ascribe it to some disordered state of my
mind at the time, but I well know I never was in better health or
possessed a clearer head and mind than at the time it occurred.
In 1867, my only sister, a young lady of 18 years, died suddenly of
cholera, in St. Louis, Mo. My attachment for her was very strong, and the
blow a severe one to me. A year or so after her death, the writer became a
commercial traveller, and it was in 1876 while on one of my Western trips
that the event occurred.
18 On Recognised Apparitions occurring [July 8,
I had " drummed " the city of St. Joseph, Mo., and had gone to my
room at the Pacific House to send in my orders, which were unusually large
ones, so that I was in a very happy frame of mind indeed. My thoughts, of
course, were about these orders, knowing how pleased my house would be at
my success. I had not been thinking of my late sister, or in any manner
reflecting on the past. The hour was high noon, and the sun was shining
cheerfully into my room. While busily smoking a cigar, and writing out my
orders, I suddenly became conscious that some one was sitting on my left,
with one arm resting on the table. Quick as a flash I turned and distinctly
saw the form of my dead sister, and for a brief second or so looked her
squarely in the face ; and so sure was I that it was she, that I sprang forward
in delight, calling her by name, and, as I did so, the apparition instantly
vanished. Naturally I was startled and dumbfounded, almost doubting my
senses ; but the cigar in my mouth, and pen in hand, with the ink still moist
on my letter, I satisfied myself I had not been dreaming and was wide awake.
I was near enough to touch her, had it been a physical possibility, and noted
her features, expression, and details of dress, &c. She appeared as if alive.
Her eyes looked kindly and perfectly natural into mine. Her skin was so
life-like that I could see the glow or moisture on its surface, and, on the
whole, there was no change in her appearance, otherwise than when alive.
Now comes the most remarkable confirmation of my statement, which
cannot be doubted by those who know what I state actually occurred. This
visitation, or whatever you may call it, so impressed me that I took the next
train home, and in the presence of my parents and others I related what
had occurred. My father, a man of rare good sense and very practical, was
inclined to ridicule me, as he saw how earnestly I believed what I stated ;
but he, too, was amazed when later on I told them of a bright red line or
scratch on the right-hand side of my sister's face, which I distinctly had
seen. When I mentioned this, my mother rose trembling to hejjeet and
nearly fainted away, and as soon as she sufficiently recovered her self-
possession, with tears streaming down her face, she exclaimed that I had
indeed seen my sister, as no living mortal but herself was aware of that scratch,
which she had accidentally made while doing some little act of kindness after
my sister's death. She said she well remembered how pained she was to
think she should have, unintentionally, marred the features of her dead
daughter, and that unknown to all, how she had carefully obliterated all
traces of the slight scratch with the aid of powder, &c., and that she had
never mentioned it to a human being, from that day to this. In proof, neither
my father nor any of our family had detected it, and positively were unaware
of the incident, yet I saw the scratch as bright as if just made. So strangely
impressed was my mother that even after she had retired to rest, she got up
and dressed, came to me and told me she hiexo at least that I had seen my
sister. A few weeks later my mother died, happy in her belief she would
rejoin her favourite daughter in a better world.
In a further letter Mr. F. G. adds : —
There was nothing of a spiritual or ghostly nature in either the form or
-dress of my sister, she appearing perfectly natural, and dressed in clothing
that she usually wore in lifef and which was familiar to me. From her position
At the table, I could only see her from the acaist up, wfc& \vst fc^*&ra&R&
s
1889.] More than a Year after Death. 11
■ * ■
and everything she wore is indelibly photographed in my mind. I even hac
time to notice the collar and little breastpin she wore, as well as the comb ii
her hair, after the style then worn by young ladies. The dress had n<
particular association forme or my mother, no more so than others she was ii
the habit of wearing ; but to-day, while I have forgotten all her other dresses
pins, and combs, I could go to her trunk (which we have just as she left it
and pick out the very dress and ornaments she wore when she appeared tx
me, so well do I remember it.
You are correct in understanding that I returned home earlier than I hac
intended, as it had such an effect on me that I could hardly think of an}
other matter ; in fact, -1 abandoned a trip that I had barely commenced, and
ordinarily, would have remained on the road a month longer.
Mr. F. X>. again writes to Mr. Hodgson, January 23rd, 1888 : —
As per your request, I enclose a letter from my father which is indorsed b}
i my brother, confirming the statement I made to them of the apparition I hac
seen. I will add that my father is one of the oldest and most respectec
citizens of St. Louis, Mo., a retired merchant, whose winter residence is ai
( , His., a few miles out by rail. He is now 70 years of age, but t
i remarkably well-preserved gentleman in body and mind, and a very learnec
i man, as well. As I informed you, he is slow to believe things that reasoi
I cannot explain. My brother, who indorses the statement, has resided ii
Boston for 12 years, doing business on street, as per letter-head above
and the last man in the world to take stock in statements without good proof
The others who were present (including my mother) are now dead, or wer<
then so young as to now have but a dim remembrance of the matter.
You will note that my father refers to the " scratch," and it was this tha
puzzled all, even himself, and which we have never been able to account for
further than that in some mysterious way I had actually seen my sister nin*
years after death, and had particularly noticed and described to my parent)
and family this bright red scratch, and which, beyond all doubt in our minds
was unknown to a soul save my mother, who had accidentally caused it.
When I made my statement, all, of course, listened and were interested
but the matter would probably have passed with comments that it was a f real
of memory, had not I asked about the scratch, and the instant I mentioned it
my mother was aroused as if she had received an electric shock, as she ha<
kept it secret from all, and she alone was able to explain it. My mother wa
a sincere Christian lady, who was for 25 years superintendent of a larg<
infant class in her church, the Southern Methodist, and a directress in man^
charitable institutions, and was highly educated. No lady at the time stoo<
higher in the city of St. Louis, and she was, besides, a woman of rare gooc
sense.
I mention these points to give you an insight into the character anc
standing of those whose testimony, in such a case, is necessary.
(Signed) F. G.
From Mr. H. G.
, Ills., January 20th, 1888.
Dear F., — Yours of 16th inst. is received. In reply to your question)
relating to your having seen our Annie, while at St. Joseph, Mo., W\W.fc\ai
r
' 20 On Recognised Apparitions occurring [July 8,
that I well remember the statement you made to family on your return home.
I remember your stating how she looked in ordinary home dress, and
particularly about the scratch (or red spot) on her face, which you could nofc
account for, but which was fully explained by your mother. The spot was
made while adjusting something about her head while in the casket, and
covered with powder. All who heard you relate the phenomenal sight
thought it was true. You well know how sceptical I am about things which
reason cannot explain. Affectionately,
(Signed) H. G. (father).
I was present at the time and indorse the above.
(Signed) K. G. (brother).
The apparent redness of the scratch on the face of the apparition
goes naturally enough with the look of life in the face. The phantom
did not appear as a corpse, but as a blooming girl, and the scratch
showed as it would have shown if made during life.
This symbol, in its essential point, — the manifestation in a phantom
of a change in personal appearance which the percipient had no oppor-
tunity of observing during life, — may be compared with the "Newgate
fringe " grown before death by Lieutenant B. (Proceedings, Vol. V.,
p. 470), and observed by General Barter in Lieutenant B.'s phantom.
But it can seldom happen that the aspect of a near relation can furnish
an evidential indication so distinct as this. Even assuming an
intelligent purpose in the phantom, one does not see what could in
most cases be represented beyond a mere likeness of the deceased ; and
a mere likeness of a known face must always be liable to be taken for
a purely subjective hallucination. The death of the motJier in this
case, a few weeks after the apparition, is noteworthy. If the apparition
had been delayed there would have been no one left on earth who was
capable of interpreting its symbolism. We may therefore class this as
a case in which it is possible, — though not, of course, provable, — that
the decedent was aware of the approaching death of a survivor. If
the incident is correctly recorded, or if it is not a mere extraordinary
coincidence, it certainly seems probable that recognition was intelli-
gently aimed at.
In the next case the ghost is seen by several persons, and it moves
into a room where the decedents sister is lying on her death-bed.
There is, therefore, an indication of knowledge of earthly events, — but
not of an earlier or fuller knowledge than survivors themselves possess.
II. — From Miss Pearson, 15, Fitzroy-square, W.C.
April, 1888.
The house, 19, St. James's-place, Green Park, had been taken on a very
long lease by my grandfather, a solicitor, in large county practice, having his
offices in Essex-street, Strand.
There my father was born and his two sisters, Ann and Harriet. Aunt
Ann died in 1868, leaving all she possessed to AuntHBm^^WTeiMCYsv^Ycv
1889.] More than a Year after Death. 21
the house. They had been devotedly attached to each other. In November,
1864, I was summoned to Brighton. My Aunt Harriet was then very ill
there. Mrs. Coppinger, the daughter of Mr. Thomas Pearson, my father's
brother, was there, and her son, Mr. George James, by her first husband,
came up and down. Eliza Quinton was nursing her. She only craved to
go back to the old house where she was born, and I made arrangements with
the railway company and took her home.
This was in the second week in December. She became worse and
worse. Eliza continued to nurse her, and Mrs. Coppinger, Mrs. John
Pearson, the wife of a nephew, and myself helped with the night work.
Miss Harriet Pearson slept in a large three-windowed bedroom over the
drawing-room. The room behind was occupied by Mrs. Coppinger and
myself, though one of us was generally in the patient's room at night. On
the night of December 22nd, 1864, Mrs. John Pearson was in the room,
Mrs. Coppinger and myself in the back room ; the house lighted up on
the landings and staircases, our door wide open.
About 1 or 2 a.m. on the morning of December 23rd, both Mrs.
Coppinger and myself started up in bed ; we were neither of us sleeping, as
we were watching every sound from the next room.
We saw some one pass the door, short, wrapped up in an old shawl, a
wig with three curls each side and an old black cap. Mrs, Coppinger called
out, "Emma, get up, it is old Aunt Ann." I said, "So it is, then Aunt
Harriet will die to-day." We jumped up, and Mrs. John Pearson came
rushing out of the room and said, " That was old Aunt Ann. Where is she
gone to ? " I said to soothe her, " Perhaps it was Eliza come down to see how
her mistress is." Mrs. Coppinger ran upstairs and found Eliza sleeping
in the servants' room. She was very awestruck but calm, dressed and
came down. Every room was searched, no one was there, and from that
day to this no explanation has ever been given of this appearance, except
that it was old Aunt Ann come to call her sister, and she died at 6 p.m.
that day. Emma M. Pearson.
The housekeeper, who is still with Miss Pearson, writes as follows : —
I was living with Miss Ann and Miss Harriet Pearson, in 19, St. James's-
place. After the death of Miss Ann I remained with her sister, and when
she became very ill and was ordered change of air, I went with her
as nurse to Brighton. Mrs. Coppinger was there and Mr. George James
now and then. Miss Emma Pearson was sent for and came down. She
brought her aunt back to London. I continued to nurse her. I remember
on the early morning of December 23rd being called up by Mrs. Coppinger,
who said that she, Miss Emma, and Mrs. John Pearson had seen someone
come upstairs and pass into the patient's room. Was it I ? I said no. Mrs.
Coppinger said, "They said it was old Aunt Ann." We searched the house
and could find no one. Miss Harriet died in the evening of that day, but
before that told all of us that she had seen her sister and knew it was
her, and she had come to call her. Eliza Quinton.
April 3rd, 1888.
In a separate letter of the same date Miss Pearson adds : —
" I now remember my aunt saying * her sister had come for. \vet, icrc \&v»
had Been her. ' "
22 On Recognised Apparitions occurring [July 8,
The next case which I shall cite is more remote, and depends on a
single memory. The relation of time between the apparition and the
death is also uncertain. The phantom's brother was undergoing at the
time his last illness ; but that illness was a long one.
III. — From Madame de Gilibert, The Paddocks, Hayward's Heath.
The Hon. Auberon Herbert and other members of the family have
kindly looked through the dates, &c, in this narrative, which, so far as
given by Madame Gilibert, were correct.
Sir Robert Herbert, K.C.M.G., writes : —
4 * It is an unusually well authenticated story, as far as the honesty of the
reporter goes." Mr. Robert Marsham remarks that "the fact that the
superior servant Garland seemed vexed at first when the little Charlotte
King described what she had seen, would rather seem to imply that the
ghost had been known to appear before."
Lady Carnarvon died February 10th, 1826.
The Earl of Egremont died November 11th, 1837.
Jwxe> 1883.
In my early days I lived in a large house, belonging to my grandfather
[the Earl of Egremont], at Petworth, from which we removed on his death
(1837) ; from this date I conclude that I could not have been younger than
11 or older than 12 when the following occurrence took place, between the
beginning of the year 1836 and the winter of 1837.
I must describe that part of the house which we, the family, occupied on
the ground floor. My grandfather's room was on the south side of a long
passage, which communicated with the more public parts of the house.
Opposite his door, on the north side of the passage, was a swinging, red
baize door, which led to a narrow corridor, having on one side two doors,
one my mother's bedroom, and the other the door of my father's dressing-
room ; on the other side was a small staircase, leading to two rooms occupied
by Garland, a superior servant, who took care of my grandfather, who was
very old. All the grandchildren were very fond of Garland, who spoilt us
all. One afternoon I had gone up to her rooms, and not finding her, as she
had not returned from the steward's room from dinner, I turned to go
downstairs. I generally "slid" down those stairs in a way peculiar to
myself. Balancing myself on my chest, and straightening myself into a
nearly horizontal position, I used to let myself go down the incline with an
impetus. I was in this position, just about to launch myself, when I was
aware of a figure, which came from the baize door, and which astonished mo
and made me pause. It was a female figure, in soft, clinging drapery,
greyish whitish, — some sort of shawl or kerchief crossed over the bosom;
the features, well-cut, delicate, and of an aquiline type ; but what struck me
most was the head-dress or coif, which had lace lappets or strings which,
passing under the chin, were tied in a bow on the top of the head. I was,
as I said, astonished, but not frightened. So many people did go about the
house that it never occurred to me to be anything supernatural. But when
the figure glided past the two doors I have mentioned, a sort of revulsion
took place in me. I let myself slide down the balustrade and rushed to stop
1889.] More than a Tear after Death. 23
her and tell her that there was no " way out." (There was a disused door,
but it had been long blocked up.) I could not have been five seconds
behind the figure, but when I reached the blocked door, there was nothing.
I knew no one could pass, but I ran round to the children's nurseries,
with which that door had communicated, and began asking the nurses
whether they had seen "an old woman in a white dressing-gown and grey
shawl and lace ribbons under her chin tied on the top of her head," adding,
"and she had a nose like Mrs. Pullen " (the head laundress, who was a sort
of female Duke of Wellington). I only got laughed at and snubbed by the
nurses, but when Garland came in and I told her, she seemed vexed at first,
and ended by scolding me, so I was " shut up " ; but nevertheless I knew
that I could not account for it, and every detail of dress, feature, and gait is
as vivid now as it was at the time.
Many years afterwards I was in Paris after my marriage, and I used to
see a cousin of my mother's, who had married abroad, and I told her once
what I have above narrated. Madame de Valmer at once said to me, "My
dear, you have described your great aunt to the minutest item of her dress
and appearance." (Madame de Valmer had been brought up by Lady
Carnarvon, her aunt.) "And," continued Madame de Valmer, " she came,
you say, from the swing door which led to your grandfather's room. She
came to fetch her brother. He died very soon after." Of course, I do not
believe this explanation of the mysterious figure ; still, the nurseries with
which the disused door communicated had been Lady Carnarvon's apart-
ments, and she had died there.
C. DE GlLIBERT.
In answer to inquiries, Madame de Gilibert says : —
The only two portraits of Lady Carnarvon at Petworth represent her
very young. In one she is with my grandfather, and is quite a child. In
the other — a Gainsborough looking head — she is quite a young woman, her
brown hair tied with a ribbon, nothing at all resembling the muffling head-
dress I saw. C. de Gilibert.
[I have had an interview with Madame de Gilibert, who seems a very
intelligent and clear-headed person. She gave me precisely the same account
viva voce. — E.G.]
Madame de Gilibert has had no other hallucinations.
" 1 have never even, as far as I can remember, dreamt a dream."
In each of these cases there has been some evidential point to
distinguish the apparition from a merely subjective hallucination. In
the first there' was the unknown alteration in the familiar face ; in the
second there were more percipients than one ; in the third the figure was
unknown to the percipient, but seemingly recognised by others from her
account. We possess a few other cases resembling these except for the
absence of precisely this evidential quality. That is to say, they are
apparitions of a deceased friend, coinciding with the beginning of a
survivor's fatal illness, or symbolising in some way his approaching
death. This amount of coincidence may, of course, Ywi \\\^o\^
impressive to the percipient, if he has never before expeviexice^. axv^
24 On Recognised Apparitions occurring [July %
hallucination. But we cannot claim such cases as evidential ; since ft
is possible that the hallucination may have been determined by the
oncoming illness; or, although occurring during health, it may, by
alarming the percipient, have helped to fulfil its own prognostication.1
This would have been, perhaps, the fittest place for a case which
was printed in the last article (Proceedings, Vol. V., p. 422), where
Mrs. Bacchus sees the phantom of a man recognised from her descrip-
tion as the deceased husband of a lady whose corpse was then lying in
the house where the ghost appeared. If we accept that recognition as
valid, we must suppose that the phantom was in some way induced by
the death of the wife.
And to this category, in fact, belong the rather numerous cases (see
Proceedings, Vol. V., p. 459, note) where a dying person sees the forms of
friends already dead. Dying men may, for aught we know, be specially
liable to subjective disturbances of perception ; and we cannot, therefore,
take account of cases where the dying man, and he alone, sees figures of
friends whom he knows to be dead. But in a few cases a dying man is
reported to have seen, mixed with figures of those whom he knows to be
dead, the figure of someone of whose decease he has not yet heard. As
regards the dying man, we may call such a vision a kind of clairvoyance
in extremis. But the apparition seen — if more than a mere' fancy —
must be classed as a phantom which indicates knowledge of what is
passing on earth, and is in some way conditioned by the death of the
surviving friend. Such death-bed visions are by their very nature not
likely to be shared by more than one person. We have only one case,
and that at second-hand, where a watcher beside the dying "bed sees
distinctly the same figures which the dying person sees. But death-bed
experiences have very rarely been observed with the right kind of care,
and we may hope for a good deal more information when the scientific
interest of these visions, as from "a peak in Darien" (to use Miss
Cobbe's simile), is more generally understood.
But apart from knowledge as to the death of survivors, is any
knowledge of other earthly matters ever displayed by a ghost ? There
are many stories of dangers averted by ghostly intervention ; are we to
assume that the departed watch over us, and guard our earthly days t
The following case is a striking specimen of this class*, the phantom
having been seen by two persons. The brevity of the rebuke, conveyed
merely by a name twice repeated, is a point in favour of the narrative ;
for long speeches put into the mouths of ghosts are pretty sure to be
1 In the Journal S.P.R. for December, 1888, p. 359, will be found an account of an
apparent prediction to a moribund person of the date of his death by his deceased
father's figure, seen in a dream. This case, which, taken alone, would have no
e%identi&l valuet is rendered interesting by the other experience*, ol tVe«ui&&taa»L9%
which iril/ be found in the Journal, loc. cU.
1889.] More than a Year after Death. 25
apocryphal. It is noteworthy that one of the percipients in this case
had already experienced a " vision of consolation " under circumstances
of strong emotion. Taken by itself, that consolatory vision might
certainly have been classed as purely subjective. But the fact that
the only other hallucination which this percipient experienced was (as
I should myself hold) a veridical one, may inspire some doubt as to
whether that earlier vision also may not have had some veridical basis.
IV. — From a lady who desires that names may not be published.
# Jwie 9th, 1885.
Our mother died while we were all very young ; and as I, the fourth
child of seven, was the eldest living daughter, I became early acquainted
(from my eighth year) with sorrow of various kinds and degrees, principally
caused, however, by the harshness and frequent neglect of housekeeper and
servants towards my baby brother and sister. The two eldest boys — between
whom and myself was a gap of some years — were almost always away from
home, and ultimately went abroad, so that from the time I was quite a
little child I was continually with my father, who made much of 'me, and at
last I became his constant companion. He never married again, and our
love was probably, therefore, a closer union even than commonly exists
between a father and daughter while the latter is of tender years. It was a
great pain to me ever to be away from him, especially after my 14th
year, at which time he began to make me his confidante as well as companion ;
and we had frequent earnest talks and discussions on many subjects. At
length, when I was about 18 years old, a terrible grief befell us, viz.,
the death of my two elder brothers within a few weeks of each other, while
they were still abroad.
My father's sorrow was great ; and at the same time he became seriously
troubled with many doubts regarding various points of Christian faith, and
so gradually lost nearly all his buoyancy of spirit, and became sadly depressed
and worn-looking, though only 48 years old. For a year he thus suffered,
when it was arranged that, so soon as he could plan to leave home, he should
go to some seaside place, and try what new scenes would effect. He also
persuaded — nay, insisted — that I should go away for awhile, without waiting
for him, and accompany some friends to South Devonshire.
The writer then narrates how a sudden summons brought her back
to find her father dead.
I went early to bed, to escape the presence and sympathetic ministrations
of the many in that kind household who gathered around me ; and by my
own choice I shared the room of a motherly-looking personage, whom I
supposed to be my cousin's nurse. She occupied the larger bed in the room,
and I a smaller one placed at some distance from hers. She was soon asleep
and breathing heavily ; but I was lying in deepest anguish, beset not only
with the grief of the sudden loss sustained, but with the wretched fear that
my beloved father had died too suddenly to find peace with God, regarding
those miserable 'doubts that had so troubled him. As the night wore on,
the pain of heart and thought grew worse and worse, and at \en$\v \ Vxv^
in prayer, earnestly pleading that my distressful thoughts m\fcY\t Y>e Xa&few
26 On Recognised Apparitions occuvrvng [July 8,
away, and an assurance of my father's peace be given me by God's Most
Holy Spirit. No immediate relief came, however, and it was early dawn
when I rose from my knees, and felt that I must be patient and wait for the
answer of my prayer.
Now a longing suddenly seized me to creep into that kind-faced woman's
bed, and to feel perhaps less lonely there. Her bed was opposite a
window, over which a white blind was drawn, and as I softly lifted the bed-
clothes and sat for a moment after drawing my feet up into the bed, I
noticed the pale dawn feebly lighting up the window, and the movement of
a little bird on the sill outside ; but the room itself was as yet almost dark.
I was just about to slip quietly down into the bed, when on the opposite
side of it (that on which the nurse was sleeping) the room became suddenly
full of beautiful light, in the midst of which stood my father absolutely trans-
figured, clothed with brightness. He slowly moved towards the bed, raising
his hands, as I thought, to clasp me in his arms ; and I ejaculated : "Father ! "
He replied, " Blessed for ever, my child ! For ever blessed ! " I moved to
climb over nurse and kiss him, reaching out my arms to him ; but with a
look of mingled sadness and love he appeared to float back with the light
towards the wall and was gone ! The vision occupied so short a time that,
glancing involuntarily at the window again, I saw the morning dawn and the
little bird just as they had looked a few minutes before. I felt sure that God
had vouchsafed to me a wonderful vision, and was not in the least afraid,
but, on the contrary, full of a joy that brought floods of grateful tears, and
completely removed all anguish except that of having lost my father from
earth. I offer no explanation, and can only say most simply and truthfully
that it all happened just as I have related.
You may find a solution to the occurrence in the sympathy which had
existed between my dear father and myself ; or, as friends have often
insisted, in the condition of excitement and exhaustion which I was suffer-
ing at the time ; but after all these years of life and experience, the memory
of that wonderful morning is ever vividly fresh, and real, and true.
The writers husband adds, under date June 17th, 1885 : —
The narrative, as related above, is substantially the same given to me by
Mrs. P. as early as 1865, and at subsequent periods.
W. B. P.
And Dr. and Mrs. C, referred to above, write, June 16th, 1885 : —
The preceding narrative was related to us by Mrs. P., substantially as
here recorded, some four or five years ago.
James C. Ellen H. C.
[Now comes the case which has evidential importance.]
In the year 1867 I was married, and my husband took a house at
S , quite a new one, just built in what was, and still is probably,
called " Cliff Town," as being at a greater elevation than the older part of
the town. Our life was exceedingly bright and happy there until towards
the end of 1869, when my husband's health appeared to be failing, and he
grew dejected and moody. Trying in vain to ascertain the cause for this, ■
and being repeatedly assured by him that I was "too fanciful," and that
1889.]
More than a Year after Death.
27
there was "nothing the matter with him," I ceased to vex him with
questions, and the time passed quietly away till Christmas Eve of that
year (1869).
An uncle and aunt lived in the neighbourhood, and they invited us to
spend Christmas Day with them — to go quite early in the morning to
breakfast, accompanied by the whole of our small household.
We arranged therefore to go to bed at an early hour on the night of the
24th, so as to be up betimes for our morning walk. Consequently, at 9
o'clock, we went upstairs, having as usual carefully attended to bars and
bolts of doors, and at about 9.30 were ready to extinguish the lamp ; but our
little girl — a baby of 15 months — generally woke up at that time, and after
drinking some warm milk would sleep again for the rest of the night ; and,
as she had not yet awakened, I begged my husband to leave the lamp burning
and get into bed, while I, wrapped in a dressing-gown, lay on the outside of
the bed with the cot on my right hand. The bedstead faced the fireplace, and
nothing stood between but a settee at the foot- of the bed. On either
side of the chimney was a large recess, — the one to the left (as we faced in
that direction) having a chest of drawers, on which the lamp was standing.
The entrance door was on the same side of the room as the head of the bed
and to the left of it— facing, therefore, the recess of which I speak. The door
was locked ; and on that same side (to my loft) my husband was lying, with
the curtain drawn, towards which his face was turned.
Roughly, the jKraition was thus —
Door
Furniture
c
O
J
Bed
Settee
i
Cot
Bay Window
1
1
Drawers and
Lamp
Chimney
Arm-chair
Furniture
As the bed had curtains only at the head, all before us was open and
dimly-lighted, the lamp being turned down.
This takes some time to describe, but it was still just about 9.30,
Gertrude not yet awake, and I just pulling myself into a half -sitting posture
against the pillows, thinking of nothing but the arrangements for the follow-
ing day, when to my great astonishment I saw a gentleman standing at the
foot of the bed, dressed as a naval officer, and with a cap on his head having a
projecting peak. The light being in the position which I have indicated, the
face was in shadow to me, and the more so that the visitor was leaning u\)ow
his arms which Tested on the foot-rail of the bedstead. I was too aatoiuftWi
28 On Recognised Ajyparitions occurring [July
to be afraid, but simply wondered who it could be ; and, instantly
my husband's shoulder (whose face was turned from me), I said,
who is this ? " My husband turned, and for a second or two lay looking
intense astonishment at the intruder ; then lifting himself a little,
shouted " What on earth are you doing here, sir ? " Meanwhile the
slowly drawing himself into an upright position, now said in a coi
yet reproachful voice, " Willie ! Willie ! "
I looked at my husband and saw that his face was white and agitated. I&\
I turned towards him he sprang out of bed as though to attack the man,
stood by the bedside as if afraid, or in great perplexity, while the figure caln^
and slowly moved tmoards the wall at right- angles with the lamp in the direc-
tion of the dotted line. As it passed the lamp, a deep shadow fell upon th*
room as of a material person shutting out the light from us by his intervening -
body, and he disappeared, as it were, into the wall. My husband now, int
very agitated manner, caught up the lamp, and turning to me said, " I men
to look all over the house, and see where he is gone. " -
I was by this time exceedingly agitated too, but remembering that tat -
door was locked, and that the mysterious visitor had not gone towards ifceV-
all, remarked, " He has not gone out by the door ! " But without pausing,
my husband unlocked th* door, hastened out of the room, and was soon searce-
ing the whole house. Sitting there in the dark, I thought to myself, "We :
have surely seen an apparition ! Whatever can it indicate — perhaps tsf ;
brother Arthur (he was in the navy, and at that time on a voyage to India) '■
is in trouble : such things have been told of as occurring." In some suck 1
way I pondered with an anxious heart, holding the child, who just then
awakened, in my arms, until my husband came back looking very white and
miserable.
Sitting upon the bedside, he put his arm about me and said, "Doyoa
know what we have seen ?" And I said, " Yes, it was a spirit. I am afraid
it was Arthur, but could not see his face " — and he exclaimed, " Oh ! no, ifc
was my father I "
My husband's father had been dead fourteen years : he had been a naval
officer in his young life ; but, through ill-health, had left the service before
my husband was born, and the latter had only once or twice seen him in
uniform. I had never seen him at all. My husband and I related the occur-
rence to my uncle and aunt, and we all noticed that my husband's agitation
and anxiety were very" great : whereas his usual manner was calm and
reserved in the extreme, and he was a thorough and avowed sceptic in all-
so-called— supernatural events.
As the weeks passed on my husband became very ill, and then gradually
disclosed to me that he had been in great financial difficulties ; and that, at
the time his father was thus sent to us, he was inclining to take the advice
of a man who would certainly— had my husband yielded to him (as he had
intended before hearing the warning voice) — have led him to ruin, perhaps
worse. It is this fact which makes us most reticent in speaking of the event ;
in addition to which, my husband had already been led to speculate upon
certain chances which resulted in failure, and infinite sorrow to us both aa
well as to others, and was indeed the cause oi out eoudiv^ to , after a
fear of much trouble, in the January of 18*11.
1889.] More than a Year after Death. 29
None of us were particularly ready to believe in such evidences,
notwithstanding my experience at my father's death, because we had re-
garded that as a special answer to prayer ; so that no condition of " over-
wrought nerves," or " superstitious fears," could have been the cause of the
manifestation, but only, so far as we have been able to judge by subsequent
events, a direct warning to my husband in the voice and appearance of the
one that he had most reverenced in all his life, and was the most likely to
obey.
Dr. and Mrs. C, friends of Mrs. and Mr. P., add the following note: —
June 16&, 1885.
This narrative was told us by Mrs. P., as here recorded, some years ago.
J. C. Ellen H. C.
Mr. P. confirms as follows, June 17th, 1885 : —
Without wishing to add more to the incidents recorded herein by my
wife, I would simply note that the details of No. 2 are quite correct, and that
the occurrence took place as stated. * * * W. B. P.
I will add one other first-hand narrative, which comes from a
respectable source, although the death of all persons concerned in it
prevents corroboration.
V. — From Mr. Happerfield, Postmaster.
Road, Bath, May 12thy 1884.
When my old friend John Harford, who had been a Weslcyan lay
preacher for half a century, lay dying, in June of 1851, he sent for me, and
when I went to his bedside he said, " I am glad you have come, friend
Happerfield ; I cannot die easy until I am assured that my wife will be
looked after and cared for until she may be called to join me in the other
world. I have known you for many years, and now want you to promise to
look to her well-being during the little time which she may remain after me."
I said, " I will do what I can, so let your mind be at rest." He said, " I can
trust you," and he soon after, on the 20th day of the month, fell asleep in
the Lord. I administered his affairs, and when all was settled there remained
a balance in favour of the widow, but not sufficient to keep her. I put her
into a small cottage, interested some friends in her case, and saw that
she was comfortable. After a while Mrs. Harford's grandson came and
proposed to take the old lady to his house in Gloucestershire, where he held
a situation as schoolmaster. The request seemed reasonable. I consented,
providing she was quite willing to go ; and the young man took her accord-
ingly. Time passed on. We had no correspondence. I had done my duty
to my dying friend, and there the matter rested. But one night, as I lay in
bed wakeful, towards morning, turning over business and other matters in
my mind, I suddenly became conscious that someone was in the room. Then
the curtain of my bed was drawn aside, and there stood my departed friend,
gazing upon me with a sorrowful and troubled look. I felt no fear, but
surprise and astonishment kept me silent. He spoke to me, distinctly und
audibly in his own familiar voice, and said : " Friend Happerneld, 1 Yrore
30 On Recognised Apparitions occurring [July S,
come to you because you have not kept your promise to see to my wife. She
is in trouble and in want. " I assured him that I had done my duty, aai-4
was not aware that she was in any difficulty, and that I would see about hflhi
first thing, and have her attended to. He looked satisfied and vanished front
my sight. I awoke my wife, who was asleep at my side, and told her what
had occurred. Sleep departed from us, and on arising, the first thing I did,
was to write to the grandson. In reply he informed me that he had been
deprived of his situation through persecution, and was in great straits, '"
insomuch that he had decided on sending his grandmother to the Union.
Forthwith I sent some money and a request to have the old lady forwarded^
to me immediately. She came, and was again provided with a home and hid
her wants supplied. These are the circumstances as they occurred. I
not a nervous man ; nor am I superstitious. At the time my old friend
to me 1 was wide awake, collected, and calm. The above is very correct, not
overdrawn. C. Happerftjkld.
This last case, however, suggests a fresh difficulty, — namely,
as to the real origin of the monitory voice. There is a good
deal of evidence, from the Daemon of Socrates downwards, to the
occurrence of monitions or warnings which in various ways inform
the percipient of some approaching danger. And sometimes these ":
monitions are associated— by an impression, or by an actual vision— *
with some deceased person, who is supposed to be acting as a guardian *]
or protector to the person thus admonished. 1
But it is a well-known fact, — pointed out by Elliotson, and
repeatedly noticed since his day, — that hypnotised or somnambulic
subjects have a tendency to develop a pseudo-guardian, — to refer the
knowledge or sensation which comes from sub-conscious strata of their
own mind to some imaginary spirit, whom they sometimes see beside »
them in visible form. Thus, in the classical case of " Estelle," — that
patient of the elder Despine, whose history is so curiously concordant '
with the most recent observations, — Estelle in her secondary condition
supposed herself to be directed by a spirit, " Ang&ique," who was
obviously a mere personification of her own supernormal knowledge of
the state of her own organism. Similarly in cases of automatic writing,
the message which really comes from the unconscious self of the writer
will sign itself by the name of some deceased relative. It is therefore
possible, and even probable, that in some of the cases where warnings
have been conveyed by some phantasmal figure simulating a dead
friend, the real source of the warning has been somewhere in the
percipient himself. And thus, for instance, in the Happerfield case,
just cited, the phantom may have been the mere dramatic projection,
either of knowledge telepathically acquired by the percipient, or of a
mere sub-conscious current of anxiety as to the welfare of a protigte of
whom he had heard no news for some time.
While thus discussing the indications of a knowledge of earthly
L889.] More than a Tear after Death. 31
Bvents afforded by phantoms, there is one curious type of cases which I
)ught to mention, although by their very nature they can hardly occur
more than a year after death — I mean cases where some manifestation
occurs just before the news of the death is received by the percipient.
In a case given in the last paper (Proceedings, Vol. V., p. 408), the
Rev. G. M. Tandy saw Canon Robinson's apparition just before he
apened a newspaper — given to him in its wrapper by a friend — which
contained the announcement of the Canon's death. In that case no
telepathic communication from living persons seems possible ; for
neither would the Canon's surviving friends think specially of Mr.
Tandy, nor could they possibly know when the news of the death would
reach him.
We have received a similar case from Mr. Magnusson, Assistant
Librarian in the Cambridge University Library, where a strong
impression of the death of a friend in Iceland came upon him — not
at the time of the death, but at the time when the letter announcing
the death had just reached England. As this was only an impression, —
though a painfully strong one, — and was not recorded at the time, I do not
quote the incident at length. But a case of Mr. Cameron Grant's, briefly
mentioned by Mr. Gurney in Phantasms of tlie Living (II., p. 690), seems,
on further study of his diary, to illustrate the present point so curiously
that I must refer to it here. After mentioning two other cases in
which entries in Mr. Grant's diary confirm his recollection of strong
impressions nearly coincident with deaths, Mr. Gurney continues : —
" I have studied in Mr. Grant's diary the full record of a third case
which was even more remarkable than the first, as it included the
peculiarity that, for some time after his first impression, he felt forcibly
impelled to draw the figure of the person who died. The case was made
the more striking to me by the fact that Mr. Grant was so certain that
the death (the time of which he had only very vaguely learnt) must
have coincided in date with his impression, that he had actually not taken
the trouble to verify the coincidence. He left it to me to find in the
Times obituary — as he confidently foretold that I should — that the
death (which was quite unexpected) occurred, thousands of miles from
the place where he was, on the day preceding that on which the entry
in his diary, relating his impression of the previous night, was written.
The impression of that night did not, however, bear distinct reference to
the particular person who died, but was a more general sense of calamity.
Certain reasons which at present make it desirable not to publish the
details of this case may in time cease to exist."
Now,on a fuller inspection of Mr. Grant's voluminous journal, (largely
a business record,) which he has kindly permitted me to make, it appeared
that the impulse to draw the dying man was the most marked feature
in the whole incident, and furthermore that this impulse came on &omfe
32 On Recognised Apparitions occurring [July 8,
months after the death — but on the night previous to the day on which
Mr. Grant saw, in a casual newspaper received in Brazil, the announce-
ment of his friend's demise in Scotland.1
The possibility of a telepathic impulse from the surviving members
of the family of course suggests itself : but Mr. Grant was in a wild up-
country station in Brazil ; and it seems impossible that anyone could
guess at what date the news would reach him. The rough sketch which
Mr. Grant was impelled to make contained two figures (of which the
second was a servant) and a window ; and it truly represented, as he
afterwards learnt, the circumstances of the death.
This narrative in some sense fits in with a few cases (cf. Phantasms
of tlie Living, I., 272, and possibly II., 52) where an impression or
hallucination seems to have continued for some time and then ceased
when the news of a death arrived. On the other hand, there are a few
cases (see Proceedings, Vol. V., p. 519) which suggest that if indepen-
dent clairvoyance exist, the perception of letters arriving, or about to
arrive, may form one of its readiest manifestations. The subject is one
to which observation should be specially directed.
On the whole, therefore, our cases where knowledge of earthly
affairs on the decedent's part is clearly indicated are few indeed. I
may add a case of Mr. Dale Owen's,2 where the knowledge which the
ghost seems to show is not of a death, but of a more mundane event.
VI. — In March, 1846, Mrs. R., wife of Dr. R., of Philadelphia, was sitting
with her two daughters in her dining-room about midday. They all three
saw a figure enter, move through the room, contemplate a portrait of Dr.
R., and disappear. Mrs. R. and the elder daughter, who saw the figure best,
identified it in dress and aspect with Dr. R. 's mother, who had died about
10 years before.
The ladies narrated this incident to the Rev. Mr. Y., and he independently
gave to Mr. Owen (at what date is not said) an account " tallying exactly "
with the account given to him by the two ladies mainly concerned.
On the return home of Dr. R. that evening it further appeared that the
apparition involved a remarkable coincidence. " Shortly before her death,"
1 1 am not sure how many hours the impulse lasted, Mr. Grant having been obliged
to return to Brazil before sending me a copy of the passage in his journal.
2 The DcbatcabU Land, 2nd Ed., p. 319. — Mr. Robert Dale Owen's works contain
several narratives which might find place in this collection. I have preferred to leave
the reader to consult them for himself, and judge of the value to be attached to them.
Mr. Owen cannot be classed as a first-rate observer ; having been once at least grossly
deceived by fraudulent mediums. Nor is his standard of what constitutes evidence very
high, as is shown by the admission to his volumes of sundry remote and inconclusive
stories. But, on the other hand, his own honesty and his strong wish to be accurate are
undoubted. He wrote out the accounts given to him with care, and, as a rule, submitted
them for revision to the narrator. Where the narrators were known to him as persons of
probity and position, and give their account at first-hand, we may be pretty sure that the
main facts are correct. It is greatly to be regretted that the full names are so rarely given,
and that Mr. Owen's papers either have not been preserved, or are not now accessible.)
1889.] More than a Year after Death. 33
says Mrs. Owen, "Dr. R.'s mother had strongly advised her son to buy a house
in the neighbourhood, which he ultimately purchased. She had also about
that time stated to a friend of hers, Mrs. C. , that if her son did well, she
would, if permitted, return from the other world to witness his prosperity.
. . • As nearly as could be ascertained, at the very hour [of the apparition]
the deeds by which Dr. R. became the legal proprietor of the house in which
she appeared were delivered to him by its former possessor."
The inference suggested is that here the prosperous action — as in other
cases the impending or the actual decease of the survivor — attracted the
attention, and thence in some way induced the appearance, of the long-
departed friend.
We proposed roughly to divide the apparently motived actions of
these apparitions into the reasonable and the unreasonable : — that is to
say, into actions which seem to imply real intention on the decedent's
part, and actions which suggest the mere unconscious working out of
some old prejudice or bygone impulse. Under which class of motives
are we to place the desire to pay one's debts ? This desire is in itself
legitimate ; but nevertheless, when the debts are trifling, there seems
something undignified in a postmortem preoccupation with a small
account which the decedent has left no funds to settle ; so that all he
can now do is to get a stranger to pay it for him. Tet such is
the situation suggested in a narrative which Dr. Binns, an author of
some scientific repute in his day, gives in his Anatomy of Sleep, p. 462,
adding that "perhaps there is not a better authenticated case on
record." It consists of a letter written October 21st, 1842, by the
Rev. Charles M'Kay, a Catholic priest, to the Countess of Shrewsbury.
The Earl of Shrewsbury sent on the letter to Dr. Binns. It is quoted
by Dale Owen (Footfalls, p. 294). I abbreviate it here : —
VII.— " In July, 1838, I left Edinburgh to take charge of the Perthshire
missions. On my arrival in Perth, I was called upon by a Presbyterian woman,
Anne Simpson, who for more than a week had been in the utmost anxiety to
see a priest. [This woman stated that a woman lately dead (date not given)
named Maloy, slightly known to Anne Simpson, had ' appeared to her during
the night for several nights ' urging her to go to the priest, who would pay a
sum of money, three and tenpence, which the deceased owed to a person
not specified.]
" I made inquiry, and found that a woman of that name had died, who had
acted as washerwoman and followed the regiment. Following up the inquiry
I found a grocer with whom she had dealt, and on asking him if a female
named Maloy owed him anything, he turned up his books, and told me she did
owe him three and tenpence. I paid the sum. Subsequently the Presbyterian
woman came to me, saying that she was no more troubled."
This account, though first-hand, is remote, and I know of no recent
cases that are quite parallel. But the point on which I here insist is
that the triviality of the ghost's alleged motive is no reason for
disbelieving the narrative. We have no right to assume WiaX. a»
34 On Recognised Apparitions occurring [July 8,
decedent, by the mere fact of his decease, will see things in a larger
light, or shake off the anxieties, the prepossessions, the superstition!
of earth. Or even if we assume that he does in some sort enter on a
larger existence, it does not follow that the conduct of his apparition
will reflect his new knowledge rather than the impulses originated by
his earthly being.1
In fact, as we shall presently try to show, there is some reason to
suppose that the apparition is due to something like the working out of a
post-hypnotic suggestion. It may be entirely absorbed in the fulfilment
of an idea implanted in the decedent's mind in his earthly days, or
impressed upon him at the moment of death. Thus we may conceive a
murdered man, for instance, as feeling persistently that he ought not
to have been murdered, — that his existence should still be continuing
in his earthly home. And if his apparition is seen in that home, we
need not say that he is " condemned to walk there," but rather that
his memory or his dream goes back irresistibly to the scene to which in
a sense he feels that he still belongs.
I say " his memory or his dream " ; but it is of course possible
that neither word may suggest a close parallel to what actually occurs.
There may be a deeper severance in the personality of the dead —
a psychical fractionation such as that on which Indian and other
philosophies have been wont to dwell — which may allow of a greater
independence and persistence in the apparition than we usually
associate with the notion of a dream. There is nothing per se improbable
in the idea that our personality — so much more f ractionable even during
our earthly life than we were wont to imagine — should be susceptible,
when liberated from the body, of still profounder divisions. For the
present, however, it seems better to keep to more familiar analogies,
and to use the word " dream " as the widest term available ; though,
of course, without assuming that the decedent is in any sense asleep.
Let us suppose, then, that the decedent tends to dream of scenes and
events in the past, and that the way which he has of old been
accustomed to regard such scenes or events is still dominant in
that dream. We shall not then be surprised to find that what I have
1 It lias been remarked that dying persons seem inwardly sometimes to be pre-
occupied with some very small and remote matter. Dr. Fere" gives a case where a
man dying from disease of the spinal marrow had already lost consciousness, but was
momentarily revived by the injection of ether. He raised his head and spoke eagerly
in a language which no one present understood. He then made signs for pencil and
paper and wrote a few lines. These were found to be a statement in Flemish, the
language of his childhood, as to a debt of 15 francs which he had contracted at
Brussels, about 20 years previously. Another dying man, with scarcely perceptible
pulse, was similarly revived by the injection of ether. He turned to his wife and
said brusquely, "You will never find that pin; all the floor has been re- boarded."
This referred to an incident which had occurred 18 years before. Having so said, be
expired.
1889.] More than a Year after Death. 35
called irrational motives appear to influence the apparition. And
amongst these we shall observe a frequent preoccupation with the mortal
remains or skeleton of the departed person. There is at any rate a
well-marked group of cases where the phantom seems to wish to draw
attention to the fact that a skeleton is concealed in some unexpected
place. When skeletons are found thus hidden, it is of course probable that
there has been foul play ; and the cause of the phantom may be
supposed to have been in the first instance the desire of the deceased
to reveal the murder ; although the haunting may continue when all
possibility of bringing the criminal to justice may have passed away.
There is, however, another possible way of accounting for this
connection between apparitions and skeletons. We may ascribe the
hallucinatory figure, not to any action on the part of the dead, but to
the hyperesthesia of the living. It has often been supposed that
certain " sensitives " are aware in some obscure manner of the proximity
of dead bodies. Developing this possibility. (Proceedings, VoL IV.,
p. 154), I cited two cases where such susceptibility might serve to explain
a feeling of horror experienced (1) in a room in whose roof (one story
higher) the dried-up body of a murdered baby was afterwards found ;
(2) in (and above) a room beneath whose flooring several skeletons were
subsequently discovered. In each of these cases there was proximity
under the same roof. But in the case which I shall now cite there was
no such proximity between the percipient and the skeleton. The
skeleton, as will be seen, was buried in an open field which the
percipient merely traversed from time to time. The bones were some 40
years old ; and kelp had been burnt above the spot where they lay. It
seems incredible that a man should be thus affected by a distant
skeleton and yet capable of fulfilling the ordinary duties of life ; which
in the case of a serious Scotch bailiff must undoubtedly have included
attendance, in the midst of buried skeletons, at church. The facts of
this case are unusually clear and well-evidenced ; the interpretation is
more than commonly difficult.
Vlll. — Discovery op a Human Skeleton by Revelation in a Dream.
From the Banffshire Journal of January 30th, 1872.
A most unusual and extraordinary occurrence has excited considerable
interest in the district around Banff during the past few days, the chain of
circumstances leading to which we are in a position to relate authoritatively.
William Moir is grieve at the farm of Upper Dallachy, in the parish of
Boyndie, about three and a-half miles west of Banff, and a mile west of the
fishing village of Whitehills. Moir is an intelligent, steady, and modest
man, 36 years of age, and married. Shortly after Whit Sunday last, he
dreamed that, on a particular spot near the farm of Dallachy, he saw lying
a dead body with blood upon the face. The dream was so vivid that every
point connected with it was deeply impressed upon his memory. TYvfc *\*&
36 On Recognised Apparitions occwnring [July 9,
on which he dreamed he saw the body lie was a slight mound on the sloping
ground which bounds the farm and stretches to the seaside, and about 16ft.
from the high water mark. For a time after the dream, Moir did not think
much about it ; but the idea of the dead man afterwards haunted him, and
he could not exclude it from his mind. By-and-bye the matter took so firm
a hold upon his thoughts that never was he a moment unoccupied but the
idea and the vision returned to him.
An incident happened in the month of July last, which Moir, at the tuna,
thought was the interpretation of his dream. A person who had been an
inmate of the Banffshire Lunatic Asylum, at Ladysbridge, was found drowned at
apoint about 200yardsfrom where Moir dreamt he saw the dead body lie. Then
is a boat belonging to the farm at Upper Dallachy, in which Moir and some of
the men-servants occasionally went to Lea and amused themselves with fishing;
and it was while out in this boat that the dead body of the lunatic was
observed. It so happened that Moir was the first person to put his hand open
the dead body ; and he and his companion proceeded to carry the body to
the village of Whitehills. When the two men were so carrying the dead body
of the lunatic, they passed over the exact spot where Moir in his dream had
seen the dead man lying, and the recollection of his dream became very vivid
at that moment. When about six yards beyond the spot, Moir's companion
slipped his foot, and the end of the board upon which lay the lunatic's body
fell to the ground. Moir, keeping hold of his end of the board, observed
that there was blood upon the face of the corpse, and he looked upon the
incident as the fulfilment of his dream.
Still, however, the vision of the dream came back upon the man. Ha
could not go out walking or sit down at home in the evening without the
recollection coming before his mind. Indeed, he began to think that hit
intellect was being affected, and he was conscious of becoming taciturn,
morose, and absent. The disagreeable feeling continued to increase in in-
tensity, and, during last week, it became positively painful. On Wednesday
last, hi the discharge of his ordinary duties, he went to an outlying portion
of the farm, and, while he was there occupied, the idea of the dream left
him. On Wednesday evening, however, it came back with increased force.
On Thursday morning he went down to Stakeness, a portion of ground
recently attached to the farm, and about 400 yards from the spot with which
his vision was associated, and, while there engaged, his oppressive thoughts
were dissipated. He returned to his house on the farm, and, after sitting
awhile, he intended to proceed to the portion of the farm at which he had
been on Wednesday, which lay on the side furthest from the sea.
While Moir was on the way from the house, the idea of his dream
occurred to him with such intense vividness that he turned and went back
to the house. Saying nothing to anyone in the house, he took a spade, and
walked direct to the spot of which he had so distinct a recollection in con-
nection with his dream, and removed a little of the turf from the surface.
After he had done so, he put the spade down its full length into the ground,
and lifted up the earth. In the spadeful of earth, however, there was an
entire human skull. The man was not at all affected by the appearance of
the skull, the idea in his mind being that the turning-up of the skull
i
1889.] Mare than a Year after Death. 37
nothing more than what was to have been expected. He took other spade-
fuls of earth, and brought up the lower jaw with teeth, followed by the
shoulder bones, and, digging further along, dug up other bones of a human
body as far as the thigh. Laying the bones out on the surface of the ground
just in the position he had found them buried, he realised that he was digging
up a skeleton. At that juncture Moir stopped digging, and went to an
elevated spot about 60 yards from the grave, where he called upon William
Loriiner, the cattleman at the farm, who was pulling turnips in a field.
Lorimer went to Moir, and both returned to the spot, when Moir recom-
menced digging, and brought out the lower bones of the skeleton. Both men
then threw the bones into the cavity, and covered them up. Moir's first
intention was to let the bones lie, but, on second thoughts, he went to the
village of Whitehills to consult Mr. Taylor, merchant there, as to what he
should do. Moir had not been 10 minutes in the shop when Inspector
M*Gregor, of the county police, who had been in Whitehills, accidentally
called at the shop. Moir reported to the inspector what had taken place,
and the two proceeded to the spot where the bones lay. By the time they
arrived there it was dusk, but the inspector had the skull and some of the
bones uncovered at once.
On Friday morning Inspector M'Gregor returned to the place, and had
the whole of the skeleton taken up.
The place where the remains were found, and which had been so long
associated with the disagreeable dream in the mind of Moir, is not at all a
likely spot for an ordinary grave. The body could have only been covered
with about 18in. of mould, and underneath it there were only two or three
inches of shingle, covering a surface of rock. The bones were considerably
decomposed, and they may have lain there for about half a century. The spot
was enclosed by a circle of stones, from eight to 10 yards in circumference ;
and the stones and shingle were so discoloured as to indicate that they had
been subjected to the influence of fire. It is believed that the enclosed circle
was the site of a kiln for burning kelp. At one time kelp-burning was a
business of some importance in the district, and there were more than a dozen
of these kilns upon the beach, within a few miles to the west of Banff, the
last of which were only discontinued about half a century ago.
The finding of the remains has been reported to the Procurator-Fiscal,
and the bones have been taken charge of by the police, pending an investiga-
tion and instructions as to their disposal.
Curiosity will naturally exist as to how the finding of the skeleton has
after a time affected the mind of Mr. Moir. After meeting with Inspector
M'Gregor, the subject of the dream ceased to harass him, and he has since
enjoyed an entire immunity from his previous mental troubles.
The whole circumstances of the case, as we have related them, are con-
firmed by a variety of evidence, which shows them to be as undoubted as they
are unusual and remarkable.
Supplementary statement by Mr. Moir, Dallachy, at a conversation
held in the Journal office, Banff, on Friday, July 19th, 1872.
Mr. William Moir is a native of the parish of Monymusk, in Aberdeen-
shire. He is 36 years of age, is married to a Miss *E\xm^\iT^, ixoxa
38 On Recognised Apparitions occurring [July 8,
Banffshire. Both Moir and his wife saw Dallachy for the first time
when they came to live there four years ago. Moir had become
familiar with all the ground on the farm by walking over it, in the ordinary
course of his duties. There was nothing particular to attract his attention
to the spot mentioned in the narrative, and he had not paid any attention to
it more than to any other part of the farm, till in June, 1870, he dreamed
that he came to the spot and saw a man lying on it, with his clothes on, but
bare-headed. The man seemed to be lying on that particular spot, the same
as if he were drunk or in a senseless condition. The first time Moir had
occasion to pass the spot after he had the dream, it occurred to him when he
came to it that it was the spot on which he had seen the man lying. He
never dreamed before nor since about anything of the same kind, and is
generally a very sound sleeper. Moir could not say whether the man was
dead or alive when he saw him in the dream, but he dreamed that he stood
and looked at the man, and on seeing the head bare and the face covered with
blood, he said to himself in an offhand sort of way, " That man has come off
with the worst of it." Subsequent to the dream Moir forgot about the man,
but his mind was always troubled about the spot of ground upon which he saw
the man lying.
Moir carefully read over the narrative and said it was quite correct. He
had read the narrative over and made corrections when it was written before
being printed, and immediately after the event occurred.
Certified by
(Signed) A. Ramsay, Editor Banffshire Journal.
The next letter is from Mr. Alexander Thurburn, of Keith, to Mr.
T. A. Stewart, one of H.M. Inspectors of Schools.
Keith, March 12th, 1883.
My Dear Stewart, — I send herewith a reprint from the Banff shirt
Journal of the story of Moir's dream, from which is omitted a suggestion
as to the identity of the skeleton which proved erroneous. I also enclose a
copy of a supplementary statement which gives a few further particulars and
explains the steps taken for checking the accuracy of the original narrative.
The supplementary statement is written from notes which Nicol wrote in
shorthand while Mr. Ramsay was questioning Moir on some points which I
had asked him to investigate.
As the matter was investigated by the criminal authorities there can be
no doubt of the substantial accuracy of the facts. The Fiscal might tell you if
desired what was done. I learned from Mr. Ramsay that there was
no story of murder, robbery, or the like associated with the spot where the
body was found. If hyperesthesia can be admitted as the cause, Moir was
just the sort of man in whom we could imagine such a condition to arise.1 He
seems to have been of an exceedingly sensitive, nervous temperament, and if
I remember right he fell into a state of religious depression such as seriously
to unhinge his mind before his death, which took place in or about October,
1873. Miss Cobbe's theory in the Echo, therefore, seems to me the most
possible one. I made some inquiries (with the view of testing another
suggestion of Miss Cobbe's) regarding his early history and the possibility of
his having heard the story in boyhood and forgotten about it. It is, of
course, impossible to obtain absolute proof of the negative in such a case,
1889.] More than a Year after Death. 39
but Moir, the gardener, told me of the movements of all the members of the
family, and I could find no trace of any means whereby they, who came
comparatively recently to the county, could have known circumstances
connected with the mystery of which the people in the immediate district
were ignorant. If I can furnish any further details I shall be glad to do so.
Alex. Thubbubx.
Mr. Thurburn adds further particulars as follows : —
Keith, May 26th, 1874.
I have been making inquiry as to the points on which you suggested
that information might be got about the late Mr. Moir, who dreamed of the
corpse at Dallachy, but all that I have learned is of a negative character. I
discovered that there was an uncle of his, a James Moir, a jobbing gardener
in Keith, to whom I am indebted for my facts, — the minister of Monymusk
to whom I wrote having told me that nothing could be learned there as all
the family had left that parish years ago.
I find from James Moir that the deceased's grandfather was a native of
Insch, in Aberdeenshire, and had a family of six, of whom the deceased's
father was the third, and James (my informant) the fifth, and that he
removed to the parish of Monymusk when James was a mere child. The
deceased's father was also very young when he was taken with the others to
Monymusk, and he continued in that parish where the deceased was also
brought up until he left it to go to service.
James Moir, the gardener, knows of no previous connection with the Banff
district, nor of any friends of the family from that neighbourhood who could
have communicated to any of them the history of any events that might
have occurred there. The tragedy at Dallachy must have been kept a
profound secret, since the inquiries of the authorities have afforded no clue
to its solution, and therefore anyone acquainted with the facts is not likely
to have spoken of them except to a very confidential friend. I think it may
safely be assumed that had such a close confidence existed between anyone
from the neighbourhood of Banff who could have known about the story,
and any of the Moir family, during the lifetime of the late Mr. Moir, his
uncle, the gardener, would have known of it ; so that it appears extremely
improbable that the story can have been told in Moir's hearing in his child-
hood and been forgotten by him.
Mr. Stewart kindly inquired personally into the case, and writes as
follows : —
Keith, April 7th, 1883.
Drab Sib, — I have to-day interviewed Mrs. Moir, and I enclose a state-
ment signed by her. She is an intelligent, fresh-faced woman, apparently
between 40 and 60. She was very willing to answer my questions, and said
she had received many letters and answered many inquiries already. I
asked her if she had seen the spot where the skeleton was found, and whether
its appearance suggested a grave ? She said she had often seen it, that it had
no appearance of being a grave, and that the fishermen passed over it on their
way from the sea. I asked her if, after the skeleton had been unearthed, her
husband still had these dreams 1 She said he had not, but that the shock to
his system led to his death. She described all the circum&t&XM&a, Wh V<st
40 On Recognised Apparitions occurring [July 8;
husband had this weight on his mind, which she often urged him, even an
her knees, to impart to her, as she knew that something was preying upoa
him. But, in her own words, " he had not the power " to do it. I asked
her if she meant that he was unwilling to tell her about it, because it might
make her uneasy, and she said this was not the way of it, but that he felt
himself bound not to reveal his experience, even to her. He often went o*fe
and prayed to be delivered from the burden, and at last thought that hk
reason was going. And now comes part of the history I had not heard before.
She said that the old people in Boyndie knew of the sudden disappearance of
a man named Elder some 40 or 60 years ago. He was said to have gone to
America, but had not been traced, and it was generally believed that he had
been murdered, and that, too, in the room in which Moir dept. Drs. Hirschfeld
and Mawson, who examined the skeleton, gave as their opinion that it had
lain there for about 40 years. Mrs. Moir also said that the soil, some 16
inches deep, covering the skeleton must have been brought there for the pur-
pose, as there was no soil of that kind in the neighbourhood. Her opinion was
that the case had been hushed up to spare the feelings of their friends. Now,
of course, you must take all this for what it is worth. Mrs. Moir made the
statements to me to-day,
T. A. Stewabt.
P.S. — I omitted to mention that Mrs. Moir said that the skull bote
marks of violence. — T. A. S.
Document III.
I hereby certify in presence of T. A. Stewart, Esq., H.M.I.S., that the
account given in the Banffshire Journal of my late husband's dream was a
correct record of the facts of the case. — Jessie Moir, Lower Towie, Botriphny.
Document IV.
Milton of Noth.
January 29&, 1883.
Mrs. Wiston, of Milton of Noth, to whose husband Moir acted as grieve,
gives a concordant account of the incident, under date January 29th,
1883, and adds:—
It was very strange that from the night of his dream until the day he dug
up the grave he never told anyone what was causing him to be so
absent and unhappy. He told me after that he felt he could not, although
the thought of it was sometimes like to deprive him of his reason. He then
spoke of it quite openly, and said it gave him no more trouble; but why this poor
man should have had any trouble with it at all seems to me incomprehensible.
He was more than an ordinary, honest, hardy, straightforward man, much
respected by Mr. Wilson and also his former masters. Neither he nor any of
his relatives had ever been in that part of the country until he was sent from
Milton to take charge of the farm.
Miss M. F. Reid, whose father was in 1872 parish minister of Auchendoir,
Aberdeenshire, gives a concordant, but more detailed account, and adds : —
February 24&, 1883.
Any addition to the statement of Mrs. Wilson, which you may find in my
Account, I have taken from notes of the story I made at the time, as related
1889.] More them a Year after Death. 41
■
to me by reliable persons in the district where I lived, who knew Moir
before his migration to this sea-board farm. I remember distinctly being
told then that Moir's reticence — as he said afterwards — during these months
in which he did not divulge his dream proceeded from an unaccountable
feeling, as if he himself had somehow been witness of, or implicated in, the
murderous act. This does not quite come out in the Wilson narrative, but
I know this fact impressed itself on me at the time, and I remember
thinking that did I believe the doctrine of metempsychosis, this circumstance
would have indicated that in some other phase of existence Moir had
witnessed the deed, which on his revisiting the spot he now became conscious
of through the medium of this confused dream. The revolution in his feelings,
after the whole circumstance became known, was most remarkable. Moir
then spoke feelingly of the matter in all ita details, and said his former *
morbid feelings seemed like the memory of a painful dream.
Mary F. Reid.
If in this case we reject — as it seems to me that we are forced to
reject — both the hypothesis of chance coincidence and the hypothesis of \
hyperesthesia, we are confronted with a conception of a strange and
painful kind. A man — himself, as the tradition hints, not blameless —
is murdered in a bedroom of a Scotch farmhouse. His body is carried
out and hastily buried in the open field. For 40 years the murdered
man retains some consciousness of this tragedy. He broods over the
fact of his death in that room, his interment in that stony hillock. At
last the bedroom is occupied by a man sensitive to the peculiar influence
which (on our hypothesis) these broodings of deceased persons diffuse.
The dream of the dead passes into the dream of the living ; it persists
in Moir's mind with the same intensity as in the murdered man's own
imagination. The purpose once achieved, — the discovery made, — the
obsession ceases.
And we may indeed say that if we carry our ideas of telepathy into
an unseen world, this is the kind of haunting which we should expect
to find. We are dealing presumably with a world of influences ; and
we can believe that a man may come within a current of influence
against which no ordinary means of self-defence can avail, and which
may persist as long as certain links between the unembodied and the
embodied mind hold good. And on the same principle we might
interpret the horror connected with the presence of a baby's corpse in
the roof ; referring this to some persistent current of influence from the .
unhappy mother who presumably placed it there.
All this must at present be mere speculation ; but at any rate these
discoveries of skeletons are in civilised countries so rare, that any account
of haunting which can be shown to have originated before the discovery ■
of the skeleton has considerable value as a coincidence.
I give another case of this kind (already alluded to), from Mrs.
Montague, Crackanfchojpe, Newbiggin Hall, Westmoreland.
42 On Recognised Apparitions occurring [July 8t
June lift, 1888.
IX. — Herewith my " Northamptonshire nights " — and days, as accurately
told as I can. But, beyond being very real to me, I am afraid they won't avail
you much. For you see I heard nothing, saw nothing, neither did the maid.
I was startled when my father told me of the rector's confession as to (he
" disagreeableness " of that end of the house — months afterwards — but what
made most impression upon me was, that having battled through the night
with my vague terrors successfully, I could not sit in that arm-chair, in the
sunshine, next day, with the sound of the cook singing over her work dose
at hand.
In the summer of 1872, my father occupied a rectory house (Passenham)
not far from Blisworth, in Northamptonshire, for a few weeks, and I went
down to spend three days with him and my mother at Whitsuntide ; my two
children and their nurse being already there. The room given to me was over
the dining-room ; next door to it was the night nursery, in which my/nurse and
children slept, the rest of the inmates of the house being quite at the other
end of a rather long passage. I hardly slept at all the first (Saturday) night,
being possessed with the belief that someone was in my room whom I should
shortly see. I heard nothing, and I saw nothing. The next morning,
Sunday, I did not go to church, but betook myself to the dining-room with a
book. It was, I remember, a perfectly lovely June morning. Before I had
been a quarter of an hour in the room, and whilst wholly interested in the
book, I was seized with a dread, of what I did not know ; but in spite of the
sunshine and the servants moving about the house, I found it more
intolerable to sit there than it had been to remain in the room above the night
before, and so, after a struggle, and feeling not a little ashamed, I left the
room and went to the garden. Sunday night was a repetition of Saturday.
I slept not at all, but remained in what *I can only describe as a state of
expectation till dawn, and very thankfully I left on the Monday afternoon.
To my father and mother I said nothing of my two bad nights. The nurse
and children remained behind for another week. I noticed that the nurse
looked gloomy when I left her, and I put it down to her finding the country
dull, after London. When she returned she told me that she hoped she
would never have to go to stay in that house again, for she had not been able
to sleep there during the fortnight, being each night the prey of fears, for which
she could not account in any way. My father left this rectory at the end of
the summer ; and some time afterwards he was talking of the place to me,
and mentioned laughingly that before he entered it the rector had " thought
it right to let him know that that end of the house in which I and my
children were put up was said to be haunted, my room especially, and that
several of his visitors — his sister in particular — had been much troubled by
this room being apparently entered, and steps and movements heard in the
dead of night. I do not like to let you come in," the rector added, " without
telling you this, though my own belief in it is small." Within, I think, a year
or 18 months at most of my father's leaving, the house had to undergo
considerable repair, and amongst others, a new floor had to be laid in the
dining-room. On taking up the old boards four or five (I forget which)
skeletons were found close under the boarding in a row, and also close to the
hearthstone. Some of the skulls of these skeletons were very peculiar in form.
1889.]
Mare thorn a Year after Death.
43
They were sent up to London for examination. I am ashamed to say, at this
moment, I forget what was the exact verdict pronounced on them by the
experts.
The Rev. G. M. Capell, writing from Passenham Rectory, October,
1889, says : " I found seven skeletons in my dining-room in 1874."
In the above cases there is no account of the continuance of the
apparition or influence after the removal of the skeleton. But I
will close this group with a narrative of an apparition observed in a
room from which a skeleton had been removed (without the percipient's
knowledge) some considerable time before the figure was seen.
X. — Sent by Mrs. Bevan, Plumpton House, Bury St. Edmund's.
The following account was written at my request by Mdlle. Julie
Marchand, whom I have known for 22 years as governess to my friends the
Andrewes. At the time of which she speaks, she was governess to the
De G h 'st and the seene of the story was a house in a street in Mannheim. ^
I read ih to her to be sure that I clearly understood it ; and is, like all ghost -
stories, thoroughly unsubstantial, though not therefore unreal. It was
written on the 23rd February, 1878, 30 years, at least, after the occurrence, /
but not the less very present to the mind of the writer. S. 0. B.
The children's names were " Nette " (Antoinette) and Charlotte.
Mdlle. Marchand informs me (July, 1889) that she has had no other
hallucinations. She is not aware how long the skeleton had been removed
before the figure was seen.
Avant de commencer mon recit, il faut que je donne une description de
ma chambre, qui e"tait une assez grande chambre, presque carre*e, ayant une
tenture tres claire, ainsi que tous es meubles, qui e'taient aussi de bois clair.
| toilettes"!"
dea
1 ™» I
toilette
| porte |
3
o
i
s
mon
litj~~l
porte de la
chambre d'6tude
r
l
| toilettes
enfana
a
table
r
s1
lA
44 On Recognised AppaintioTts occivrring [July i,
•*
^
C'&ait pendant le Car&me de 184 — . II faut que je mentionne que piil \
de mon lit j 'avals une petite table, ou je posais une lampe, comme j'ank ■
Thabitude de lire tous les soirs pour une heure et plus, lorsque j'6tajs couches.
Sur la table au milieu de la chambre il y avait un lumignon, ce qu'on nomme ioi
German night-lights, mais plus grand que ceuz que j'ai vus ici. D e*tait nil
dans un grand verre d'eau claire, de sorte qu'il ne donnait aucune ombre.
II n'y avait aucun rideau dans la chambre excepts des rideaux aux fenfttres,
qui reposaient sur la fenetre lorsqu'ils e'taient tires.
Un soir que j'e*tais couchee et les deux enfans dormant paisiblement,
j'eprouvai un sentiment comme celui qu'on eprouve en sentant une peraonne
pres de soi. Je levai les yeux, et je vis devant moi, je puis a peine dire une
ombre puisqu'une ombre vous apparait plate, maisc'6tait plutdt la figure d'an
homme que je vis distinctement ; seulement je ne pouvais distinguer let
traits de sa figure, qui e*taient caches par 1" ombre d'un grand chapeau. Chose
extraordinaire pour moi, je n'eprouvai aucune frayeur. Je regardai la figure
longtemps, m'imaginant que c'dtait une illusion de ma vue. Je me remit a
lire ; apres un temps je regardai de nouveau ; la figure 4tait toujour!
immobile et a la meme place. A la fin j'6teignis la lumiere, je tournai le dot
a cette figure, et je m'endorans, pensant que ce n'ltait qu'imagination.
La meme chose arriva pendant plusieurs jours de suite. Craignant qu'on
ne so moquat de moi, je ne mentionnai la chose a personue. Les enfans tant
encore tres jeunes, de 9 et 10 ans, elles avaient leur souper a 7 heurea ; moi,
je descendais a 9 heures pour souper avec le Baron et la Baronne ; a 10 heuree
je montais ordinairement pour me coucher. Pendant ce temps le lumignon
restait sur la table, comme il e*tait tou jours allume* lorsque les enfans Itaient
au lit ; puis la chambre d'ltude restait eclair£e pendant que j'&ais en baa.
II faut que je dise que l'alnee des enfans 6tait tres craintive.
Un soir que je montais apres souper j'entendis des cris d'angoisse terrible
dans la chambre a coucher. J'y courus, et vis mon eleve hors de son lit,*
cherchant a arracher hors de son lit sa scour, qui donnait profondement,
la suppliant de se reveiller, lui disant, "Chere C, O reveille- toi."
Lorsque l'enfant me vit elle courut se coucher. Je lui dis simplement,
" J'espere que tu ne feras plus un tel tapage." Le lendemain l'enfant
paraiasait si miserable qu'elle m'inqui£ta un peu. Je lui demandai si
elle dtait malade ou non ; elle me repondit, " Non, je suis bien."
L'idee me vint de la questionner surle sujet desa frayeur dehier au soir, oar
j'dtais sure que son 6tat d'etre provenait de sa frayeur de hier au soir. Jela
pris dans une chambre seule pour la questionner. Pendant longtemps je ne
pus rien lui faire avouer ; enfin, apres lui avoir promis qu'elle ne serait pas
grondee, qu'elle pourrait me dire quelle absurdity elle voudrait, que je
desirais savoir la cause de sa peur afin de lui parler la-dessus, enfin, apres bien
des hesitations elle me dit, " Je sais que ce n'est pas vrai, mais cela cependant
m'effraye." Elle me dit : " Des que vous descendez on frappe a la porte de
la chambre d'&ude, et au pied do mon lit je vois un homme." Cela me
frappa. Je lui dis, " Je voudrais bien savoir comment ton imagination
effrayee te le repre'sente. " Elle me dit, " Je sais que ce n'est pas vrai," mais
enfin elle me dit il porte un long manteau, avec un long col, un chapeau avee
la tdte basse, avec une large aile. J'eus presque peur que l'enfant ne vit mon
Itonnement, car c'e*tait exactement la meme figure que j 'avals vu plusieure
1889.] More than a Tear after Death. 45
fois auparavant debout devant ma commode, entre deux lumieres et peut-$tre
a quatre ou cinq pieds de moi.
Aprea bien dea reflexions je me decidai a mentionner la chose au Baron,
puiaque j'ltais sure que la Baronne ne ferait que s'en moquer. Je craignais
que l'imagination de l'enfant, frappee ainsi, a tort ou a raison, pourrait nuire
a la sante\ Le Baron, contre mon attente, devint si serieux que j'&ais
etonnee. D me dit, •' Je viendrai ce soir dans la chambre d'ltude et nous
parlerons de choses mdiffSrentes," car je aavais que N. ne dormirait pas
jusqu'a ce que je fusse au lit. Nous attendlmes jusqu'a pres 11 heures ; nous
n'entendlmes qu'un bruit qui pouvait etre occasionne* par dea souris, mais
apres un certain temps nous entendlmes mon nom, aussi distinctement que
possible, provenant d'un coin de la chambre. J'allai dans la chambre a
coucher ; je demandai a N. si elle m'avait appele\ Elle £tait tout a fait
reveillee et elle me dit non. Le Baron me dit, " Demain les enfans
quitteront cepalier." On nous donna deux chambres au plain-pied. Quand
nous eumes quitte* nos chambres, le Baron me dit, " En faisant les armoires
dans la salle d' 6tude on a trouve* une squelette dans le mur." Je nel'avais
jamais au auparavant. J'avais habits ces chambres pendant dea annees sans
jamais avoir rien vu ni entendu, excepte* cette ann^e. Plus tard ces memes
appartements furent habitus par les deux neveux orphelins, avec leur
gouverneur. Ha ne virent jamais rien. Plus tard je suis alle*e tres sou vent
dans ces appartements sans rien voir.
Quoique je puisse dire avec verite* que j'ai regarde* cette figure main tea
fois, me frottant les yeux, et que je n'ai jamais vu la figure diaparaitre, et que
je me suis endormie, la laissant a la m&me place, je n'ai jamais eu peur, ce
qui me fait croire que je n'ai jamais pense* que la chose £tait reelle.
We have now discussed most of the recent cases where a definite
motive — reasonable or unreasonable — can be plausibly suggested for the
behaviour of a post-mortem phantasm. Such motived cases form a small
proportion only of the narratives of ghostly appearances. On the view
here advanced, this was likely to be the case ; the great majority of
such manifestations were likely to have no distinct meaning or purpose.
In popular tradition, on the other hand, the meaning, the object, of a
ghost's appearance is apt to make the principal point of the story.
Accordingly we find that when ghosts have no motive it has been
thought necessary to invent one ; and houses where haunting figures
occur have been lavishly decorated with ancient tragedies — murders and
suicides of the most shadowy type — in order to justify the phantasmal
visits.
All these dim unhistorical stories we must set aside. We must
realise the fact that haunting figures usually occur without any such
sensational background. And we must simply consider the few
indications as to their true nature which the actual evidence offers.
In the first place, and having regard to the popular division of
hauntings into local and personal cases, — haunted houses and haunted
men, — we observe that the evidence for haunted men ia oi a verj -W3&&
46 On Recognised Apparitions occurring [July $
order. That is to say, in few of the cases where a man is troubled witfc
the same phantom, recurring again and again in different places, k
there reason to class the apparition as more than a mere subjective
hallucination. We do not find modern parallels to confirm the
often-cited story of Mdlle. Claizon, who was haunted nightly bf
the sound of a pistol shot (connected with the dying threat of ft
slighted lover), which sound is said to have been heard equally
by other persons present at the time. The drift of the evidence, I
repeat, makes not for haunted men but for haunted places. It tendi
to show that figures resembling deceased persons are sometimes seen
in the former habitat of those persons, under circumstances which
make their explanation as after-images or as chance-resemblances im-
probable. It is plain, however, that these figures can seldom ocqxr
under good evidential conditions. If I see the figure of my dead friend
in the room in which he lived, you may say that this was a mere after-i
image ; a vivid recollection of how my friend used to look. If yon,
who never knew my friend, see a phantom in the same house, you do
not realise whom the phantom represents. To make evidence, our two
visions must be juxtaposed ; and your description of the figure must
be identified with the known figure which I saw. This may be done,
and has been done, more or less perfectly, in a variety of ways. Or, of
course, a mere single vision of an unrecognised figure may be in itself
strongly evidential, if only the percipient can identify the personage,
with proper precautions, from picture or photograph.
But there is no part of our inquiry where more care as to evidential
conditions is needed, or where less care has actually been used. In
our former discussions on apparitions coincident with a death, we found
that even the strongest personal interest in the vision was often in-
sufficient to induce the percipient to record it properly, or to collect the
most necessary corroborations. And in these cases of so-called " haunt-
ing " the meaning of the apparition is still less the personal concern of
any given percipient. Posterity — let us hope — will smile at the tone
of many of the accounts which people give of such experiences, — their
sense of personal injury at the idea that such a thing should happen to
them, — their unabashed avowal of having been terribly frightened at a
poor phantom which could not hurt a fly. While there is so much
diffused timidity in regard to the so-called " supernatural," the owners
of house-property naturally take the fact into account, and conceal
well-attested ghosts as carefully as defective cesspools. The result is
that we have a great number of incomplete narratives, — narratives
which do not indeed break down, but which stop short ; — the experience
of one percipient being given first-hand and in detail, bufc other cor-
roborative experiences being promised, perhaps, and then withdrawn, or
#iven with restrictions which render them useless as evidence. In this
1889.] More than a Year after Death. 47
department we have repeatedly had reason to believe that unwilling
informants have minimised or even denied their own experiences, from
the quite groundless fear that we might so use their narratives as to
depreciate the letting value of the haunted residence. We trust that
with a truer conception of the facts involved these repugnances are
already beginning to give way ; but they have thus far kept most of
our evidence for hauntings in a state ill-suited for public production.
There are various cases where from my knowledge of the infor-
mants,— and (if I may so say) of the non-informants, — I see strong
reason for believing that something supernormal has occurred. But
there are few cases which I can print in anything like a complete form.
The publication of even a few narratives, however, may do something
to remove vulgar prejudice, and to prompt to further inquiry.
" It came to nothing " ; " What was the meaning of it ? " ; "It
seems such a senseless thing for a departed spirit to do " ; — such are
the usual comments on the purposeless class of manifestations on which
we enter now. I have already implied that this very purposelessness,
in my view, ought a priori to have been expected, and forms a strong
argument in favour of the origination of these phantoms somewhere
outside the observer's mind. For I hold that now for the first time
can we form a conception of ghostly communications which shall in
any way consist or cohere with more established conceptions ; which
can be presented as in any way a development of facts which are
already experimentally known. Two preliminary conceptions were
needed, — conceptions in one sense ancient enough ; but yet the first of
which has only in this generation found its place in science, while the
second is as yet awaiting its brevet of orthodoxy. The first conception
is that with which hypnotism and various automatisms have familiarised
us, — the conception of multiplex personality, of the potential co-
existence of many states and many memories in the same individual.
The second is the conception of telepathy ; of the action of mind on
mind apart from the ordinary organs of sense ; and especially of its
action by means of hallucinations ; by the generation of veridical
phantasms which form as it were messages from men still in the flesh.
And I believe that these two conceptions are in this way connected,
that the telepathic message generally starts from, and generally
impinges upon, a sub-conscious or submerged stratum in both agent
and percipient.1 Wherever there is hallucination, — whether delusive
or veridical, — I hold that a message of some sort is forcing its way
upwards from one stratum of personality to another, — a message which
may be merely dreamlike and incoherent, or which may symbolise a
fact otherwise unreachable by the percipient personality. And the
1 See Phantom* of the Living, Vol. I., p. 231.
48 On Becognised Apparitions occurring [July 8,
mechanism seems much the same whether the message's path bl
continued within one individual or pass between two ; — whether Al
own submerged self be signalling to his emergent self, or B to
telepathically stimulating the hidden fountains of perception in A ^
If anything like this be true, it seems plainly needful that -Is
all that we know of abnormal or supernormal communication ""
between minds, or states of the same mind, still embodied in 4kd»
should be searched for analogies which may throw light on thii *-
strangest mode of intercourse between embodied and disembodied
minds. Our steps on this uncertain ground must needs be short anfl
wavering. But they may help to mark the right direction for futun
inquiry, and to dispel certain vulgar preconceptions which can only
mislead.
A communication (if such a thing exists) from a departed person
to a person still on earth is at any rate a communication from a mini
in one state of existence to a mind in a very different state of existent*
And it is, moreover, a communication from one mind to another which
passes through some channel other than the ordinary channels of sense;-
— since on one side of the gulf no material sense-organs exist. It will
apparently be an extreme instance of both these classes — of communi-
cations between state and state,1 and of telepathic communications;
and we ought, therefore, to approach it by considering the less advanced
cases of both these types.
On what occasions do we commonly find a mind conversing with
another mind not on the same plane with itself? — with a mind
inhabiting in some sense a different world, and viewing the environ-
ment with a difference of outlook greater than the mere difference of
character of the two personages will account for 1
The first instance of this sort which will occur to us lies in
spontaneous somnambulism, — or colloquy between a person asleep and
a person awake. And observe here how slight an accident allows us
to enter into converse with a state which at first sight seems a type of
incommunicable isolation. " Awake, we share our world," runs the old
saying, "but each dreamer inhabits a world of his own." Yet the
dreamer, apparently so self-enclosed, may be gently led, or will
spontaneously enter, into converse with waking men.
The somnambulist, — or rather the somniloquist, — for it is the talking
rather than the walking which is the gist of the matter, — is thus our
first natural type of the revenant.
1 Some word is much needed to express communications between one state and
another— e.g.t between the somnambulic and the waking state, or, in hypnotism, the
cataleptic and the somnambulic, &c. The word "methectic " (jxtBcKTucfc) seems to me
the most suitable ; — especially since fildc £tr happens to be the word used by Plato
(Parm. 132 D.) for participation between ideas and concrete objects. Or the word
*' inter -state " might be pressed into this new duty.
1889.] More than a Yewr after Death. 49
And observing the habits of somnambulists we note that the degree
in which they can communicate with other minds varies greatly in
different cases. One sleep-waker will go about his customary avocations,
without recognising the presence of any other person whatever.
Another will recognise certain persons only ; or will answer when
addressed, but only on certain subjects ; — his mind coming into contact
with other minds only on a very few points. Rarely or never will a
somnambulist spontaneously notice what other persons are doing, and
adapt his own actions thereto.
Next let us turn from natural to induced sleep-waking; — from
idiopathic somnambulism to the hypnotic trance. — Here too, throughout
the different stages of the trance, we find a varying and partial (or
elective) power of communication. — Sometimes the entranced subject
makes no sign whatever. Sometimes he seems able to hear and answer
one person, or certain persons, and not others. — Sometimes he will talk
freely to all ; but however freely he may talk, he is not exactly his
waking self. — And as a rule he has no recollection, or a very imperfect
recollection, in waking life of what he has said or done in his trance.
Judging, then, from such analogy as communications from one
living state to another can suggest to us, we shall expect that the
communication of a disembodied or discarnate person witn an incarnate,
if such exist, will be subject to narrow limitations, and very possibly
will not form a part of the main current of the supposed discarnate
consciousness.
Looking back upon some of the cases above given, we shall recognise
that this description is at any rate consistent with their details, so far
as it goes. The phantasmal figure has rarely seemed to meet the living
percipient with any direct attention, but rather to be working out some
fore-ordained suggestion with little reference to any other mind.
And now to take the other aspect of the analogy which presented
itself. Let us consider the characteristics of telepathic communication ;
since the intercourse of the discarnate with the incarnate, — however
different it may be from thought-transference among living persons, —
must, at least, be less different from thought-transference than from
ordinary speech or gesture.
Beginning, then, with small experimental cases of thought-trans- ,
ference, we observe that the agent who projects a mental picture is
not commonly aware whether he has succeeded in transferring it or no ;
and we also observe that it is often imperfectly transferred, or
incorrectly realised by the percipient. Analogically, we may suppose
that the discarnate intelligence may project a picture into some living
mind without being aware that he has done so ; and moreover, that
this picture, as realised by the living person, may differ considerably
from the picture existing in the discarnate mind. Out n«x.\» &to^ S&
50 On Recognised Apparitions occurring [July 8,
still more important. For we come to cases where the image projected
before the percipient's consciousness is not that of a mere diagram, or
number, or material object of any kind, but is an image of the
" agent " himself. Readers of Phantasms of the Living will remember
that in these cases the agent is not usually aware of having produced
this effect on the percipient. There are, indeed, some instances where
he himself has some kind of corresponding impression, — as of seeing
the percipient at the moment when the percipient sees him, — and to
these we have given the name of reciprocal cases. And in many cases
it is impossible to say whether this reciprocity existed or no, since the
agent dies almost at the moment of the apparition. Still, these cases
as a whole confirm the view already suggested, that the agent in
apparitions is not necessarily conscious of the effect which he is in
some way producing. And, finally, there is a small but very instructive
group of cases where the agent has voluntarily induced an apparition
of himself to a distant percipient, as a matter of experiment ; — acting
thus as nearly as possible in the way in which we may imagine a
departed friend to act, if he desires to make an impression of his
presence upon a friend who survives. What> then, is the behaviour of
the apparition thus produced ? How far does it indicate intelligence or
initiative ? How far does its action form a part of the normal train of
consciousness — or enter into the normal train of memory — of the agent
from whom it in some way emanates? Let us consider the principal
cases of tliis kind recorded in Phantasms oftlte Living.
Case 13, Vol. I., p. 103. — Figure speaks — uncertain with what
amount of intelligence. Agent (asleep at the time) is not conscious of
having succeeded in appearing.
Cases 14, 15, 16, Vol. I., p. 104-109.— Mr. S. H. B.'s figure is seen,
on four occasions, as willed by him. On three of the occasions he is
asleep, on the fourth in a state of self-induced trance-like concentration,
— In no case does he know afterwards whether he has succeeded or
not. — On one occasion the figure performs a trifling act which Mr.
S. H. B., had willed that it should perform. On another occasion it
performs a similar action without any previous intention on Mr. S. H."
B.'s part.
Case 685, Vol. II., p. 671. — Mr. Cleave is hypnotised ; sees a
room at a distance ; is twice seen in that room. — In this case the agent
remembers his own apparent presence in the distant room. — The
figure merely stands in the room ; does not act.
Case 686, Vol. II., p. 675. — Mrs. Russell, in waking state, desires
intensely to become manifest to her family at a distance (Scotland
to Germany). She is seen ; has no knowledge of having been thus seen.
Case given, Vol. I., p. lxxxi. — Mr. Godfrey three times wills to be
perceived by a certain person. Twice his figure is perceived, — on the
1889.] More than a Tear after Death. 51
third occasion he fails. — After each success he had a vague knowledge
that he had succeeded. — On one occasion the figure seems to speak
bat only a word.
Case given in Journal — Baron v. Notzing, in waking conditions,
desires to impress himself upon a person out of sight. He succeeds ;
has no knowledge that he has succeeded.
It will be seen that these cases which, as we have said, ought
theoretically to form the closest parallel to post-mortem apparitions,
do in effect actually present us incidents strongly resembling the
behaviour of those posthumous phantoms.
To put the matter in a crude way ; the behaviour of phantasms of
the living suggests dreams dreamt by the living persons whose phantoms
appear. And similarly the behaviour of phantasms of the dead suggests
dreams dreamt by the deceased persons whose phantasms appear. The
actions of these phantasms may therefore be expected to be vague and
meaningless, or at any rate to offer little response or adaptation to the
actions of the persons who observe them. For they will presumably
be conditioned either by some definite previous self-suggestion, (as in
S. H. B.'s case, above cited), or by some automatic recurrence to a
familiar train of associations.
And under the heading of " automatic recurrence " we ought
probably to place the appearances which seem to depend on locality
alone. Whatever position the departed may hold towards space, —
whether they inhabit our space, or some other form of space, or are
extra-spatial entities, — we must suppose that their memory deals with
the space-relations of the past. And if there be a memory of space,
this is in itself a relation to space. If the decedent recollects scenes
which he has known, then we may conceive that this recollection of his'
may become somehow perceptible to other minds.
The notion that unembodied intelligences can have any relation to
space may appear to some minds as unphilosophical. It seems to lead
on to those primitive forms of materialism ; those savage conceptions of
the spirits of the dead, which modern Spiritualism undoubtedly repro-
duces under a new colour, but which philosophy has learnt to disdain.
We can, however, form no real conception of a disembodied existence ;
and it is better not to assume as a matter of course either any
resemblances or any differences from our own condition beyond what
the actual evidence points to. And at any rate this conception of
a dead maris dream, — of a probably unconscious gravitation of some
fraction of his disembodied entity towards his old associations ; — a
flowing of some backwater of his being's current into channels familiar
long ago; — will serve to supply a fairly coherent conception of the
meaning of those vague haunting 8 into which, as we have seen, our
narratives of recognised post-mortem apparitions im^rcepiVbVj ^&&.
Y>1
52 On Recognised Apparitions occu/rrimg [July 8,
The strong and weak points of the evidence for recognised appari-
tions and for vague hauntings are in some sense complementary to
each other. Recognised apparitions have an obvious meaning, bat
weak attestation ; vague hauntings have strong attestation, but an
hard to interpret. If recognised apparitions of the dead, under
circumstances precluding the possibility of mere subjective hallucina-
tion, occurred so frequently that chance-coincidence were excluded, we
should have a right to assume that the so-called dead were still in some
way influencing the living. But, as we have seen, the evidence to such
appearances is as yet so scanty that although personally I incline to
accept it, I cannot present it to others as at present conclusive. On
the other hand, the evidence that in certain houses several persons
have had hallucinations, independently of each other, and beyond the
limits of chance-coincidence, is, I think (as Mrs. Sidgwick's paper in
Vol. III. showed), exceedingly strong. The question remains as to
what the meaning may be of these localised, recurrent hallucinationi;
— whether they indeed bear any relation to departed men. And tfce
grotesqueness of these haunting phenomena, — their unlikeness to any
effect which a reasonable decedent might be expected to wish to
produce, — has been a strong argument against ascribing them to the
agency of a departed spirit.
But these incongruities seem less puzzling if we regard these
haunting sights and sounds as the fragmentary reflection of some dead
man's ineradicable dream. On that view we need not look for reason
in what is unreasonable, for purpose from what is purposeless. For
though in the last resort it would be an intelligence like our own from
which these phenomena would spring, yet that intelligence would be
one with which we could enter into no real community. We should be
observing and analysing, — not messages from those who love, nor
revelations from those who know, — but the incoherent nightmare, the
incognisable reverie, of the innumerable unremembered dead.
These reflections apply to a great number of narratives of haunting
which, as above explained, are in themselves almost necessarily tedious
and inconclusive. I will give one or two only at length ; but will first
briefly indicate the character of some of the rest.
We have, for example, a case ("the Gillingham ghost") where
three persons separately see the figure of an old woman in a house
where an old woman, reputed of similar aspect, used to reside. We
have a case where a young man reading with a tutor (at Waterperry,
near Oxford) sees a phantom of a farmer of very upright carriage on a>
bridge where, (unknown to the percipient,) a farmer, formerly a
soldier, had been found dead some years before. We have a case
where a lady sees the figure of a young girl run across a room (at
Combermere Abbey), which room had previously been the nursery
1889.] More than a Tear after Death. 53
in which (as family tradition, unknown to the percipient, went) a
16-year-old daughter of the house had been found one morning dead
in her bed. We have a case where three persons independently saw
the phantom figure of a young woman (at B. Court). One of these
percipients, at least (probably all of them), remarked (in 1881) that the
head of the figure was not visible. In 1883 a skull was discovered
beneath the foundations of the room into which this figure disappeared.
We have several cases of an isolated hallucination seen in a room
which had previously been frequented by a person resembling the
figure seen, — this fact being unknown to the percipient. Thus Mr.
A. W. Hall, of St. Thomas's House, Oxford, tells us how he saw a
venerable old man " sitting writing at the table in the centre of the
room in which I was," the room being one in which there had, in fact,
been previous rumours (unknown to Mr. Hall) of the appearance of
Lord Hood, Mr. Hall's great-grandfather, whom he had never seen.
And through the kindness of the Bishop of Ripon we have procured
the following narrative from Mrs. Pittar (a near connection of the
Bishop's), whose verbal account was given to us in nearly the same
words. I print the case ; — not as possessing high evidential value, for
the identification of the figure is plainly conjectural ; but in the hope
that some reader may be able to get further information as to the
Chateau de Prangins, — an easily accessible place.
XI. — In the year 1867 I was travelling in Switzerland with my husband,
and we stopped at the Chateau de Prangins, near Nyon, which is now a
collegiate school for boys.
Our bedroom was a large, oblong room, overlooking the Terrace and Lake
Leman, with an old-fashioned black writing-table in the middle of it. There
was nothing unusual about the room or the circumstances, and I went to bed
and slept soundly. But in the middle of the night I suddenly awoke in a
state of terror, not, apparently, from a dream, for I had no impression of
having been dreaming, but with a sort of certainty that a tall, thin, old man, in
a long flowered dressing-gown, was seated and writing at the table in the
middle of the room. I cannot say what gave me this certainty, or this
distinct picture, for I did not once turn my eyes to the place where I felt that
the intruder was seated. It did not, in fact, occur to me at the time how odd
it was that I thus knew of his appearance without seeing him. The room was
flooded with brilliant moonlight ; but I did not venture to turn my head.
My cries awoke my husband, who naturally thought that I had had a night-
mare, and could not understand my persistent assertion that an old man in a
flowered dressing-gown was in the room. At last he persuaded me to look at
the table where I had felt that the old man was sitting ; and there was no
one there.
Next morning my husband mentioned my extraordinary nocturnal terror ;
the account, to our great surprise, was received as a matter of course, the
landlord's married daughter merely remarking, " Ah, you have seen
Voltaire." It appeared on inquiry that Voltaire, in extreme o\& &^ ws&&
54 On Recognised Apparitions occwrrmg [July 8,
often to visit this Chateau, then the property, I believe, of Lucien Bonaparte,
and the room in which we slept was known to have been his sitting-room. Of
this neither my husband nor myself knew anything. I had not been thinking
about Voltaire, nor looking at any portrait of him, nor did it once occur to
me that the figure could be his until I heard that morning from the landlord
that the same figure was reported to have been seen in the same room, and
that it was supposed to be Voltaire's.
I have never had any other hallucination of any kind.
1885. Emily Pittab.
How long after death — we may ask, Apropos of this story of
Voltaire — is there any evidence for the continued action of the
departed ?
There are a good many accounts of appearances pritnd facie
representing persons dead for 50 or 100 years. But obviously the
cases where identification of so remote a figure is possible are likely to
be also cases where there may have been some kind of anticipation on
the percipient's part; — some association of a famous personage (the
Empress Catherine of Russia, <fcc), with rooms which that personage is
known to have inhabited.
We have a few cases where an unrecognised figure in old-fashioned
costume has been seen by more than one person, simultaneously or
successively. Thus a phantom in cavalier's garb was seen in daylight
by two percipients together in an avenue at Twickenham. The
evidential value of such cases will depend on the view which we
ultimately adopt as to whether collective hallucinations are ever wholly
delusive, or imply some sort of reality outside the percipients' minds.
There is a case investigated by Dale Owen {Footfalls^ p. 304)
which, unless it be an elaborate and purposeless hoax, stands almost
alone in the definiteness of date and communication. This was given
to Mr. Owen by the two principal percipients, — the " wife of a field-
officer of high rank in the British army " and a young lady, her friend
and visitor. It was also independently confirmed by a Mrs. O., who
had been a servant in the house at the time of the occurrences. The
story seems too complex to admit of being explained away by anything
short of an elaborate hoax played on Mr. Owen; and it seems
improbable that these ladies should have contrived such a deceit, or
should have induced the former nurse to take part in it, or should have
allowed the story, if false, to be printed and reprinted without
comment. Mr. Owen, it must be remembered, was a man of the world
and a diplomatist; — in no way an absurd personage, but liked and
esteemed in good society in several countries. We have endeavoured
in vain to trace the percipients ; and even the house (now, as Owen
says, a farmhouse) could not be positively identified by an inquiry
which we caused to be made on the spot.
1889.] Mare than a Tear after Death. 55
The gist of the story is that, after many noises heard at Ramhurst
Manor by various persons, three figures appeared to Miss S., and one of
them also to Mrs. R., and that to both percipients the figures gave the
surname of Children, adding that Richard Children, one of the figures,
died in 1753. In Hasted's History of Kent (published 1778) the facts
of Richard Children's residence at Ramhurst Manor, of his having a
wife and son, and of his death in 1753, weoe verified.
To this class of cases belongs the remarkable narrative which forms
the gist of Mr. Hugh Hastings Romilly's Trice Story of the Western
Pacific (Longmans, 1882). Mr. Romilly has since been Deputy-
Commissioner of the Western Pacific. On his book Mr. Gurney has
the following note : —
This book gives one the highest opinion of its writer's strength of
character, as well as of his modesty. Mr. Romilly 's mother, Lady Elizabeth
Romilly, assures me that the story is rather under-coloured than exaggerated,
and that it is a most literal transcript of events, which Mr. H. H. Romilly
wrote out, very unwillingly, at his father's urgent request. — E. G.
I give an abstract of the incident, which is at any rate interesting
as one of the few recorded cases of really close scrutiny into the
grounds of a savage belief by a cool and capable observer.
XII. — In the earlier part of his narrative, Mr. Romilly has described the
murder on Christmas Eve, 1879, of a native called Kimueli, in the island
of Rotumah, by an Australian half-caste, who was afterwards convicted of
the crime. Mr. Romilly had seen the wounded man before his death. " A
piece of coarse cloth or calico was over the top of the head, and round it,
to keep it in its place, were strips of banana leaves. The whole was secured
with cotton and strips of fibre." Next year at the same season, Mr.
Romilly, with a friend named Allardyce, was inhabiting a house in Rotumah,
about 200 yards from the house of a friendly influential native called Alipati,
or Albert, who used usually to come with other friends and smoke with
Mr. Romilly in the evening.
For two days before Christmas Day this man Albert did not appear ; and
Mr. Romilly learnt that he was afraid to walk from one house to the other
because Kimueli's ghost had been repeatedly seen.
Of course I laughed at him. It was an every-day occurrence for natives
who had been out late at night in the bush to come home saying they had
seen ghosts. If I wished to send a message after sunset, it was always neces-
sary to engage three or four men to take it. Nothing would have induced any
man to go by himself. The only man who was free from these fears was my
interpreter, Friday. He was a native, but had lived all his life among white
people. When Friday came down from his own village to my house that
morning, he was evidently a good deal troubled in his mind. He said :
" You remember that man Kimueli, sir, that Tom killed."
I said, " Yes, Albert says he is walking about."
I expected Friday to laugh, but he looked very serious and said :
" Every one in Motusa has seen him, sir ; the women are so frightened
that they all sleep together in the big house. "
56 On Recognised Apparitions occurring [July 8,
" What does he do ? " said I. " Where has he been to % What men
have seen him ? "
Friday mentioned a number of houses into which Kimueli had gone. It
appeared that his head was tied up with banana leaves and his face covered
with blood. No one had heard him speak. This was unusual, as the ghosts
I had heard the natives talk about on other occasions invariably made
remarks on some commonplace subject. The village was very much upset
For two nights this had happened, and several men and women had been
terribly frightened. It was evident that all this was not imagination on the
part of one man. I thought it possible that some madman was personating
Kimueli, though it seemed almost impossible that any one could do so
without being found out. I announced my determination to sit outside
Albert's house that night and watch for him. I also told Albert that I should
bring a rifle and have a shot, if I saw the ghost. This I said for the benefit
of any one who might be playing its part.
Poor Albert had to undergo a good deal of chaff for being afraid to walk
200 yards through the bush to my house. He only said :
" By-and-bye you see him too, then me laugh at you."
The rest of the day was spent in the usual manner. AUardyce and I were
to have dinner in Albert's house ; after that we were going to sit outside and
watch for Kimueli. All the natives had come in very early that day from the
bush. They were evidently unwilling to run the risk of being out after dark.
Evening was now closing in, and they were all sitting in clusters outside their
houses. It was, however, a bright moonlight night, and I could plainly
recognise people at a considerable distance. Albert was getting very nervous,
and only answered my questions in monosyllables.
For about two hours we sat there smoking, and I was beginning to lose
faith in Albert's ghost, when all of a sudden he clutched my elbow and
pointed with his finger. I looked in the direction pointed out by him, and he
whispered 4< Kimueli."
I certainly saw about 100 yards off what appeared to be the ordinary
figure of a native advancing. He had something tied round his head, as yet
I could not see what. He was advancing straight towards us. We sat still
and waited. The natives sitting in front of their doors got closer together
and pointed at tho advancing figure. All this time I was watching it most
intently. A recollection of having seen that figure was forcing itself upon my
mind more strongly every moment, and Huddenly the exact scene, when I had
gone with Gordon to visit tho murdered man, came back on my mind with
great vividness. There was the same uian in front of me, his face covered
with blood, and a dirty cloth over his head, kept in its place by banana-leaves
which were secured with fibre and cotton thread. There was the same man,
and there was the bandage round his head, leaf for leaf, and tie for tie,
identical with the picture already present in my mind.
" By Jove it is Kimueli," I said to Allardyce in a whisper. By this time
ho had passed us, walking straight in the direction of the clump of buBh in
which my house was situated. We jumped up and gave chase, but he got to
the edge of tho bush before we reached him. Though only a few yards ahead
of us, and a bright moonlight night, we here lost all trace of him. He had
disappeared, and all that was left was a feeling of consternation and
1889.] More than a Tear after Death. 57
annoyance on my mind. We had to accept what we had seen ; no explana-
tion was possible. It was impossible to account for his appearance or
disappearance. I went back to Albert's house in a most perplexed frame of
mind. The fact of its being Christmas Day, the anniversary of Tom's attack
on Kimueli, made it still more remarkable.
I had myself only seen Kimueli two or three times in my life, but still I
remembered him perfectly, and the man or ghost, whichever it was who had
just passed, exactly recalled his features. I had remembered, too, in a general
way how Kiniueli's head had been bandaged with rag and banana-leaves, but
on the appearance of this figure it came back to me exactly, even to the
position of the knots. I could not then, and do not now, believe it was in the
power of any native to play the part so exactly. A native could and often
does work himself up into a state of temporary madness, under the influence
of which he might believe himself to be any one he chose ; but the calm,
quiet manner in which this figure had passed was, I believe, entirely
impossible for a native, acting such a part, and before such an audience, to
assume. Moreover, Albert and every one else scouted the idea. They all
knew Kimueli intimately, had seen him every day and could not be mistaken.
Allardyce had never seen him before, but can bear witness to what he saw
that night.
I went back to my house and tried to dismiss the matter from my mind,
but with indifferent success. I could not get over his disappearance. We
were so close behind him, that if it had been a man forcing his way through
the thick undergrowth we must have heard and seen him. There was no
path where he had disappeared.
[The figure was never seen again.]
From this savage scene I pass to a similar incident which occurred
to a gentleman personally known to me, (and widely known in the
scientific world), in a tranquil and studious environment. The initials
here given are not the true ones.
XIII. — On October 12th, 1888, Mr. J. gave me vivd voce the following
account of his experience in the X. Library, in 1884, which I have taken
down from memory next day, and which he has revised and corrected : —
" In 1880 I succeeded a Mr. Q. as librarian of the X. Library. I had
never seen Mr. Q., nor any photograph or likeness of him, when the follow-
ing incidents occurred. I may, of course, have heard the library assistants
describe his appearance, though I have no recollection of this. I was sitting
alone in the library one evening late in March, 1884, finishing some work
after hours, when it suddenly occurred to me that I should miss the last
train to H., where I was then living, if I did not make haste. It was
then 10.55, and the last train left X. at 11.5. I gathered up some books
in one hand, took the lamp in the other, and prepared to leave the librarian's
room, which communicated by a passage with the main room of the library.
As my lamp illumined this passage, I saw apparently at the further end of
it a man's face. I instantly thought a thief had got into the library. This
was by no means impossible, and the probability of it had occurred to me
before. I turned back into my room, put down the books, and took a
revolver from the safe, and, holding the lamp cautiously behind m^ \ tosAa
58 On Recognised Apparitions occurring [July 8,
my way along the passage— which had a corner, behind which I thought my
thief might be lying in wait— into the main room. Here I saw no one, but
the room was large and encumbered with bookcases. I called out loudly to
the intruder to show himself several times, more with the hope of attracting
a passing policeman than of drawing the intruder. Then I saw a fact
looking round one of the bookcases. I say looking round, but it had an odd
appearance as if the body were in the bookcase, as the face came so closely
to the edge and I could see no body. The face was pallid and hairless, and
the orbits of the eyes were very deep. I advanced towards it, and as I did
so I saw an old man with high shoulders seem to rotate out of the end of
the bookcase, and with his back towards me and with a shuffling gait walk
rather quickly from the bookcase to the door of a small lavatory, which
opened from the library and had no other access. I heard no noise. I
followed the man at once into the lavatory ; and to my extreme surprise
found no one there. I examined the window (about 14in. X 12in.), and
found it closed and fastened. I opened it and looked out. It opened into
a well, the bottom of which, 10 feet below, was a sky-light, and the top open
to the sky some 20 feet above. It was in the middle of the building and no
one could have dropped into it without smashing the glass nor climbed out
of it without a ladder— but no one was there. Nor had there been any-
thing like time for a man to get out of the window, as I followed the
intruder instantly. Completely mystified, I even looked into the little
cupboard under the fixed basin. There was nowhere hiding for a child, and
I confess I began to experience for the first time what novelists describe as
an ' eerie ' feeling.
" I left the library, and found I had missed my train.
" Next morning I mentioned what I had seen to a local clergyman, who,
on hearing my description, said, "Why that's old Q. !" Soon after I saw
a photograph (from a drawing) of Q., and the resemblance was certainly
striking. Q. had lost all his hair, eyebrows and all, from (I believe) a
gunpowder accident. His walk was a peculiar, rapid, high-shouldered
shuffle.
" Later inquiry proved he had died at about the time of year at which I
saw the figure.
" I have no theory as to this occurrence, and have never given special
attention to such matters. I have only on one other occasion seen a
phantasmal figure. When I was a boy of ten I was going in to early dinner
with my brothers. My mother was not at home, and we children had been
told that she was not very well, but though we missed her very much wext
in no way anxious about her. Suddenly I saw her on the staircase. I
rushed up after her, but she disappeared. I cried to her and called to the
rest, " There's mother ! " But they only laughed at me and bade me come
in to dinner. On that day — I am not sure as to the hour — my second sister
was born.
" I have had no other hallucinations. When I saw the figure of X. I was
in good health and spirits."
In a subsequent letter Mr. J. adds : " I am under a pledge to the X.
people not to make public the story in any way that would lead to identity.
Of course I shall be glad to answer any private inquiries, and am willing
1889.] More than a Year after Death. 59
that my name should be given in confidence to bond fide inquirers in the
usual way.'1
The evidential value of the above account is much enhanced by the fact
that the principal assistant in the library, Mr. R. , and a junior clerk, Mr.
P. , independently witnessed a singular phenomenon, thus described by Mr.
R. in 1889 :—
"A few years ago I was engaged in a large building in the , and
during the busy times was often there till late in the evening. On one
particular night I waB at work along with a junior clerk till about 11 p.m.,
in the room marked A on the annexed sketch. All the lights in the place
had been out for hours except those in the room which we occupied. Before
leaving, we turned out the gas. We then looked into the fireplace, but not
a spark was to be seen. The night was very dark, but being thoroughly
accustomed to the place we carried no light. On reaching the bottom of the
staircase (B), I happened to look up ; when, to my surprise, the room which
we had just left appeared to be lighted. I turned to my companion and
pointed out the light, and sent him back to see what was wrong. He went
at once and I stood looking through the open door, but I was not a little
astonished to see that as soon as he got within a few yards of the room the
light went out quite suddenly. My companion, from the position he was in
at the moment, could not see the light go out, but on his reaching the door
everything was in total darkness. He entered, however, and when he
returned, reported that both gas and fire were completely out. The light in
the daytime was got by means of a glass roof, there being no windows on the
sides of the room, and the night in question was so dark that the moon
shining through the roof was out of the question. Although I have often
been in the same room till long after dark, both before and since, I have
never seen anything unusual at any other time.
" When the light went out my companion wjas at C." [marked on plan.]
Mr. P. endorses this : "I confirm the fofGgbing statement."
In subsequent letters Mr. R. says : —
" The bare facts are as stated, being neither more nor less than what
took place. I have never on any other occasion had any hallucination of the
senses, and I think you will find the same to be the case with Mr. P."
The light was seen after the phantom ; but those who saw the light were
not aware that the phantom had been seen,\for Mr. J. mentioned the
circumstance only to his wife and to one other friend (who has confirmed to
us the fact that it was so mentioned to him), and he was naturally particu-
larly careful to give no hint of the matter to his assistants in the library.
In the Journal S.P.R., Vol. III., p. 207, will be found a first-hand
record, sent by the Rev. W. S. Grignon, " of two apparitions of the
same deceased person to two persons, — relatives, — at intervals of two
to four years after the death — apparently on the same spot." Some
other cases which might have been noticed in the present paper will be
found in Mrs. Sidgwick's paper on PJiantctoms of the Dead, already
cited. Specially important is the case of haunting in a modern villa
(Vol. III., p. 117), which haunting has continued since i\ie ^^lc^Xaot^
60 On Recognised Apparitions occurring [July 8,
of Mrs. Sidgwick's paper, though we are not permitted to give any
account which might lead to recognition.
I will conclude my quoted cases with a somewhat painful and
complex narrative, which ought, I think, to be considered when we U9
trying to form a conception as to the true significance of " haunting*
sounds and sights.
XIV. — The following case, which we owe to the kindness of Mr.
Wilfrid Ward (and of Lord Tennyson, for whom it was first committed
to writing some years ago), is sent by Mrs. Pennee, of St. Anne
de Beaupre\ Quebec, daughter of the late Mr. William Ward (a
Conservative M. P. for London), and sister of the late Rev. A. R. Ward,
of Cambridge.
Weston Manor, Freshwater, Isle of Wight.
1884.
It was in the year 1856 that my husband took me to live at a house called
Binstead, about five miles from Charlottetown, P. E. Island. It was a good-
sized house, and at the back had been considerably extended to allow of
offices, since there were about 200 acres of farm land around it, n<
several resident farming men. Although forming part of the house, these
premises could only be entered through the inner kitchen, as no wall had
ever been broken down to form a door or passage from upstairs. Thus the
farming men's sleeping rooms were adjacent to those occupied by the fanuly
and visitors, although there was no communication through the upstaixi
corridor.
It was always in or near the sleeping apartment, immediately adjacent to
the men's, that the apparition was seen, and as that was one of our spare
bedrooms, it may have frequently been unperceived.
About 10 days after we had established ourselves at Binstead, we com-
menced hearing strange noises. For many weeks they were of very frequent
occurrence, and were heard simultaneously in every part of the house, and
always appeared to be in close proximity to each person. The noise was
more like a rumbling which made the house vibrate, than like that produced
by dragging a heavy body, of which one so often hears in ghost stories.
As spring came on we began to hear shrieks, which would grow fainter
or louder, as if someone was being chased round the house, but always
culminating in a regular volley of shrieks, sobs, moans, and half -uttered words,
proceeding from beneath a tree that stood at a little distance from the dining-
room window, and whose branches nearly touched the window of the
bedroom I have mentioned.
It was in February (I think), 1857, that the first apparition came under
my notice. Two ladies were sleeping in the bedroom. Of course, for that
season of the year a fire had been lighted in the grate, and the fireplace
really contained a grate and not an American substitute for one.
About 2 o'clock, Mrs. M. was awakened by a bright light which pervaded
the room. She saw a woman standing by the fireplace. In her left arm was
a young baby, and with her right hand she was stirring the ashes, over which
she was slightly stooping.
1889.] More than a Tear after Death. 61
Mrs. M. pushed Miss C. to awaken her, and just then the figure turned
her face towards them, disclosing the features of quite a young woman with
a singularly anxious pleading look upon her face. They took notice of a
little check shawl which was crossed over her bosom. Miss C. had previously
heard some tales concerning the house being haunted (which neither
Mrs. M. nor I had ever heard), so jumping to the conclusion that she
beheld a ghost, she screamed and pulled the bedclothes tightly over the
heads of herself and her companion, so that the sequel of the ghost's pro-
ceedings is unknown.
The following spring I went home to England, and just before starting I
had my own experience of seeing a ghost. I had temporarily established myself
in the room, and one evening, finding my little daughter (now Mrs. Amyot)
far from well, had her bed wheeled in beside mine that I might attend to
her. About 12 o'clock I got up to give her some medicine, and was feeling
for the matches when she called my attention to a brilliant light shining under
the door. I exclaimed that it was her papa and threw open the door to admit
him. I found myself face to face with a woman. She had a baby on her left
arm, a check shawl crossed over her bosom, and all around her shone a
bright pleasant light, whence emanating I could not say. Her look at me
was one of entreaty — almost agonising entreaty. She did not enter the room
but moved across the staircase, vanishing into the opposite wall, exactly
where the inner man-servant's room was situated.
Neither my daughter nor myself felt the slightest alarm ; at the moment
it appeared to be a matter of common occurrence. When Mr. Penned came
upstairs and I told him what we had seen, he examined the wall, the stair-
case, the passage, but found no traces of anything extraordinary. Nor did
my dogs bark.
On my return from England in 1868 I was informed that " the creature
had been carrying on," but it was the screams that had been the worst.
However, Harry (a farm-servant) had had several visits but would tell no
particulars. I never could get Harry to tell me much. He acknowledged
that the woman had several times stood at the foot of his bed, but he would
not tell me more. One night Harry had certainly been much disturbed in
mind, and the other man heard voices and sobs. Nothing would ever induce
Harry to let any one share his room, and he was most careful to fasten his
door before retiring. At the time, I attached no importance to " his ways,"
as we called them.
In the autumn of the following year, 1859, my connection with B instead
ceased, for we gave up the house and returned to Charlottetown.
I left Prince Edward Island in 1861, and went to Quebec. In 1877 I
happened to return to the island, and spent several months there. One day I
was at the Bishop's residence, when the parish priest came in with a letter in
his hand. He asked me about my residence at Binstead, and whether I could
throw any light on the contents of his letter. It was from the wife of the
then owner of Binstead, asking him to come out and try to deliver them from
the ghost of a woman with a baby in her arms, who had appeared several
times.
After I went to live in Charlottetown I became acquainted with the
following facts, which seem to throw light on my ghost afcoty.
62 On Recognised Apparitions occurring [July 8,
The ground on which Binstead stood had been cleared, in about 1840; \j
a rich Englishman, who had built a very nice house. Getting tired of oolonkl
life, he sold the property to a man whose name I forget, but whom I will oaU
Pigott (that was like the name). He was a man of low tastes and immoral
habits ; but a capital farmer. It was he who added all the back wing of tin
house and made the necessary divisions, &c., for fanning the land. Ha
had two sisters in his service, the daughters of a labourer who lived in i
regular hovel, about three miles nearer town. After a time each sister give
birth to a boy.
Very little can be learnt of the domestic arrangements, since Pigott ban
so bad a name that the house was avoided by respectable people ; but it ii
certain that one sister and one baby disappeared altogether, though when
and how is a complete mystery.
When the other baby was between one and two years old, Pigott sold
Binstead to an English gentleman named Fellowes, from whom we hired it,
with the intention of eventually buying it. The other sister returned to her
father's house, and leaving the baby with Mrs. Newbury, her mother, went
to the States, and has never returned. Before leaving she would reveal
nothing, except that the boy was her sister's, her own being dead. It was
this very Harry Newbury that we had unwittingly engaged as farm-servant.
He came to bid me farewell a few months after I left Binstead, saying he
would never return there. In 1877, I inquired about him, and found that
he had never been seen since in Prince Edward Island.
In another letter dated September 24th, 1887, Mrs. Pennee adds : —
Another fact has come to my notice. A young lady, then a child of
from 5 to 10, remembers being afraid of sleeping alone when on a visit at
Binstead on account of the screams she heard outside, and also the "woman
with a baby," whom she saw passing through her room. Her experience
goes back some 10 to 15 years before mine.
In a further letter, dated St. Anne de Beaupre\ Quebec, January
23rd, 1889, Mrs. Pennee gives additional facts, as follows: —
(1) Mrs. Penned interviewed Father Boudreault, the priest sent for by the
C. family to exorcise the house. Father B. , however, was on his death-bed ;
and although he remembered the fact that he had been sent for to Binstead
for this purpose, he could not recollect what had been told him as to
apparitions, &c.
(2) Mrs. M., who first saw the figure, has gone to England, and cannot
now be traced. Mrs. Penned adds : — " The lady in question told several people
that she saw a woman with a baby in her arms when she slept at Binstead ;
and, like myself, she noticed a frilled cap on the woman. The woman whose
ghost we imagine this to be was an Irish woman, and perhaps you have
noticed their love of wide frills in their head-gear. "
(3) Mrs. Pennee revisited Binstead in 1888, and says, " The tree whence
the screams started is cut down ; the room where all saw the ghost is totally
uninhabited ; and Mrs. C. would not let us stay in it, and entreated us to
talk no further on the subject. From the man we got out a little, but she
followed us up very closely. He says that since the priest blessed the houses
1889.] More than a Year after Death. G3
woman has been seen (or said to have been seen, he corrected himself)
round the front entrance, and once at an upper window."
The list of cases cited in this and the previous paper, while
insufficient (as I have already said) to compel conviction, is striking
enough to plead for serious attention to a subject which will never be
properly threshed out unless the interest taken in it assumes a scientific
rather than an emotional form. Considering how long this scattered
belief in the appearances of dead persons has existed, it is really extra-
ordinary that so little trouble should have been taken to determine
whether that belief was well-founded or no. For be it observed that
there has been just as little diligence, just as little acumen, shown
amongst the scoffers as amongst the credulous. It is often said that
" ghost-stories break down on examination "; but what really happens
is, not that the inquirer detects fraud or mistake in the story, but that
the story is both presented and criticised in a vague and careless way,
is sifted by nobody, and sinks or swims as a mere matter of luck. Mr.
Gurney was in the habit of collecting specimens of cases sent to
ourselves which broke down on his inquiry. These contain some
curious specimens of human error ; and we hope some time to offer
some of them to the public. But hardly any hints of value, it was
found, could be drawn from previous destructive criticisms, which
are generally of the most superficial kind. In fact, so far as any
exact investigation goes, the present subject is almost absolutely
new ; and the group of cases now presented — of whose evidential
imperfections I am thoroughly aware — must be taken as a vindemiatio
prima, or mere first handful from an ungarnered field.
Something will have been done, I hope, to encourage the quest for
further evidence if I am thought to have suggested a parallel between
the now known modes of action of the embodied mind and the possible
modes of action of the disembodied mind, which may at least enable us
to see something logically probable, — rather than something grotesquely
meaningless, — in the reported behaviour of the ordinary apparition.
Most assuredly, if these supernormal phenomena are to be explained at
all, they must be explained by finding some laws which govern at once
these post-mortem, manifestations and the manifestations of spirits still
in the flesh. Two such laws I believe to exist. In the first place, I
believe that telepathy — the transference of thought through other than
sensory channels — exists both as between embodied spirits and as
between embodied and disembodied spirits. I hold that there is a
continuous series of manifestations of such power, beginning with
thought-transference experiments and hypnotism at a distance, pro-
ceeding through experimental apparitions and apparitions coincident
with crisis or death, and ending with apparitions alter ds&lV, — tih&
64 On Recognised Apparitions ocvwrrvng [July 8,
results, in my view, of the continued exercise of the same energy by
the spirits of the departed.
And in the second place I regard it as analogically probable
that the thesis of multiplex personality, — namely, that nd known
current of man's consciousness exhausts his whole consciousness,
and no known self-manifestation expresses man's whole potential
being, — may hold good both for embodied and for disembodied
men. And consequently I believe that the self-manifestations of the
departed, — being communications between states of being almost
impassably disunited, — must needs form an extreme type of those
fugitive and unstable communications between widely different strata
of personality of which living minds offer us examples; and that
" ghosts " must therefore as a rule represent — not conscious or central
currents of intelligence — but mere automatic projections from con-
sciousnesses which have their centres elsewhere.
& nwoi, fj pa rii tori Koi tlv 'At'&zo &6poi<rip
yjrvx^ kcu €t8o>Xov, arty) <f>p4v€s owe evi rra/xTrav-
I believe that the simple, primitive cry of Achilles is the direct
expression of the actual observation of mankind. " There is some soul
and wraith even in Hades," as Mr. Leaf translates, " but there is no
heart in them "; or, in modern phraseology, " Influences and images
generated by the dead persist amongst us, but have no true initiative
nor objective reality."
Thus much, I believe, careful observation will teach us moderns also.
What further deduction we may draw is a matter for philosophy rather
than for science. In Homer's view the dead men themselves — in the only
personality worth possessing — were lying, a prey to dogs and to every
bird, on the plain of Troy. Plotinus, on the other hand, could not
believe that the automatic self-glorifications, the fading recollections of
" Hades' house," could represent the true personality of the ascending
soul. " The shade of Herakl6s," he said, "might boast thus to shades;
but the true Herakles for all this cares nought; being transported into
a more sacred place, and strenuously engaging, even above his strength,
in those contests in which the wise wish to engage."
It must be enough thus to indicate that the view here taken of the
inadequacy of apparitions as a true means of communication between
the dead and the living does by no means negative any belief which we
may hold on other grounds as to the life and love of the departed.
The present need is not of speculation, but of evidence ; — of a real
direction of competent intelligence towards the collection and criticism
of a far larger mass of well-attested narratives than the efforts of a few—,
men during a few years have succeeded in getting together. It may
Indeed be that such records may prove explicable — I can scarcely say
».]
More than a Yew after Death.
65
by known laws — but by laws whose discovery will only slightly farther
extend our experimental psychology in some of the directions in which
it is now rapidly advancing. Or it may be that these long despised,
long neglected narratives will prove the smooth stones from the brook,
and find a vulnerable point in that Goliath of our inscrutable Destiny,
against whom so many prouder weapons have been levelled in vain.
Y
66 Further Experiments in Hypnotic
IV.
FURTHER EXPERIMENTS IN HYPNOTIC LUCIDITY OB
CLAIRVOYANCE.1
By Professor Charles Richet.
[This translation has been revised by the Author,']
PART I.
Since the conclusion of the experiments recounted in Part XIT. of
the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research (pp. 18-168) —
that is to say, since the month of March, 1888, — I have had the oppor-
tunity of making some further experiments with Leonie B., the same
person mentioned in Chapter III., p. 31, of my former paper. Then
new experiments are, in my view, more decisive than any of those
which I have detailed in the above-mentioned memoir.
In fact, as I had there remarked, the earlier experiments were
gravely compromised by the most important and incontestable fact that
when playing cards were used there was no lucidity. "Here," I said in
conclusion, "we have a fact absolutely negative, which must inevitably
cast some doubt on the experiments in the reproduction of diagrams."
(p. 149.)
When the subject is called upon to divine a drawing, a name, a
malady, an incident of some kind, the probability of a right or
approximately right answer is hard to calculate. To take an example :
What is the probability that, given a drawing such as Figure 66, p. 99,
a reproduction as accurate as Figure 66 bis will be obtained tjj
chance alone 1 The calculation is an impossible one. One can only
say that the chance of such reproduction is not very small.
On the other hand, when a playing-card is used, the probability ifl
a known, a measurable quantity ; as measurable as any fact in scienoo.
If I put the queen of hearts, without knowing myself what card it
is, in an envelope, and am told that the queen of diamonds is in the
envelope, I can calculate all the probabilities involved ; the chance
that a queen will be chosen (j1^), that a red queen will be chosen (^
the chance that the card chosen will not be the queen of hearts (||),
that it will not be a heart at all (f ), &c, &c. All this is a matter of
simple and exact computation.
I am well aware that objections are taken to this method. Persona
1 Professor Richet uses the word lucidiU.
r
*' ; Lucidity or Clairvoyance. 67
t
mfan* ^he doctrine of chances, or with its application to these
problerik .>\rf Atain that these figures prove nothing, and that a lucky
ran will explain all. This argument — which I am surprised to note
in the German magazine Sphinx1 — is far from sound. For if by
experiment one obtains a result antecedently very improbable, it is
assuredly permissible to conclude that something besides chance has
been at work. Otherwise one would never come to any conclusion at
all. The doctrine of chances, in fact, is at the bottom of all
scientific argument, in chemistry, physics, physiology alike, although
masked in these cases by the predominant importance of the special
conditions of each experiment.
A chemist seeking to determine the atomic weight of potassium,
and obtaining the number 39 in two successive experiments, will not
set the result aside as due to chance. He will try once more with
increased exactness, and if he again obtains 39 he will accept the
result. He will not attribute the coincidence of the three numbers to
"a lucky run."
If, then, I obtain a series of concordant results whose antecedent
probability, on the ground of chance alone, is of one to a thousand
millions, I shall maintain that chance does not explain this ; but that
either lucidity veritably exists, or there is some defect in the method
of experimentation.
And this may be advanced with the more confidence, inasmuch as
the alternative between lucidity and non-lucidity is in these experi-
ments a perfectly distinct one. Up till now — if you will — lucidity had
neYer been clearly proved either by myself or by anyone else. The
experiment was still to be made ; and either the affirmative or the
negative view could still be maintained. If, then, my new experiment
is indisputably cogent in one or the other direction, it must be regarded
as deciding the question.
Well, in the series of experiments which I shall now recount,
lucidity has shown itself in the clearest manner ; and, so far as the
possibility of chance is concerned, there is left no room for doubt.
The subject on whom these experiments were made was Leonie
B., well-known in connection with the celebrated experiments of
M. Gibert and M. Pierre Janet.2 I need not, therefore, insist on
the special characteristics which her hypnotic trance presents.
These experiments have been, for my part, of a very laborious
1 Die sogennanien Spiritistisehen Versuehe des Professors Charles Richet, von L.
Knhlenbeck, Sphinx, September, 1888, p. 177. I may remark that the author does
art seem to have taken the trouble to read in the original the work which he
criticises.
* See Phantasms of the Living, Vol. IL, p. 679 seq , and Bulletins de la SocUU de
Pqehologie Physiologique, 1887, passim.
?5
7 fr"!
68 Further Experiments in Hyjrhxotic
character. She spent two months and a-half in my houb
September 11th, 1888). As I could keep her entranced !_.. g
without injury to her — generally during the night — I have repeat
sat by her side from 8 p.m. till 6 a.m. For it was not in the earliest
moments of her trance that she could tell the cards under the envelope,
but after long and apparently very laborious endeavour.
The manner in which she arrived at this result was very curious—
possibly very instructive, if any real clue to the process can be found.
She held the envelope between her hands, and then drew on a sheet of
paper a club, a heart, a diamond, a spade ; and she repeated these
drawings over and over again, saying, " It is red, black, club, heart,"
<bc., but not making up her mind to a definite choice till after a long
period of uncertainty. This period of guessing was still longer when the
exact number of pips on the card was to be told. In that case she
counted on her fingers, repeating the process again and again
ad nauseam.
My patience was thus pretty severely tried. To wait three, four,
or five hours at dead of night till a card is named, one needs a
considerable share of perseverance. Had it been my intention — which
Heaven forbid ! — to submit these experiments to some academic
commission, I should not have ventured to ask of anybody whatever to
endure seances like these, often, alas ! completely without success. To
endure such stances, one must be directly interested in the experiment.
An onlooker would have lost patience before attaining the smallest
result.
Moreover, during all this time she never ceased talking of other
things — asking me all kinds of questions, describing the episodes of
her past life, expressing a kind of childish affection for me— fall
of gaiety and mockery, and rapidly catching the ridiculous side of
everyone whom she had come across, — talking, in short, of everything
except the card which she was trying to tell. " She was waiting for it
to come," she said, and suddenly, in the midst of our conversation, she
would stop and name a card — then begin again two or three times to
talk ; and it was only at the end of all this that she settled definitely
what card she would name.
It is clear, I think, that had I known the card I should have ended
by indicating it to her in spite of myself. From weariness or inad-
vertence, I should have given some sign which would have betrayed my
thought. I believe, indeed, that in a sitting of five hours I could
myself manage to discover any card known to the experimenter, merely
by aid of the hints which his exhaustion might allow to escape him in
the course of so tedious a trial. But, as the case actually stood, I could
reveal nothing to Leonie, for I was myself absolutely ignorant as to
it the card in the envelope might be.
Lucidity or Clairvoyance. 69
n my previous experiments, the card was taken by me (at
m and unse n) from a mixture of 10 packs of 52 cards each ; the
a Jer of packs Ahus admitting of the recurrence of the same card
ix ^y^rai times running. The cards which had once been used were not
»> "ployed a second time. I pladed the card in an opaque envelope, which
I closed myself completely and gave to Leonie. When she had decided
on the card, I took back the envelope ; I satisfied myself that it was
intact, and I opened it, and took the card out. Sometimes Leonie
opened the envelope herself ; but I had always first satisfied myself
of the absolute integrity of the envelope — a condition without which,
as I assured her, the experiment could not count.
These envelopes, called opaques in trade, were in fact not absolutely
opaque. They were sufficiently so, however, entirely to prevent the
colour of pips from being discerned by transmitted light, whatever
the source of illumination. I succeeded, with great difficulty, and
after efforts which lasted some minutes, by placing the card in
full sunshine or in the light of a powerful lamp, in seeing the
pips and colour of the card by reflected light. But Leonie never
acted in this way. She made no effort to look at the card, but
contented herself with feeling it between her fingers, and crumpling
the envelope in her hand, scribbling, meantime, upon the envelope itself
her interminable scrawls, representing club, spade, heart, and diamond.
She remained, moreover, almost constantly in a dim light, at some
distance from my armchair, and never tried to hold the card in the
light of the lamp.
Furthermore, in order to preclude all possibility of ordinary, even
hypersesthetic sight, from the experiments of July 22nd onwards, I
placed the card and envelope in a second opaque envelope, so that the
two superimposed opacities rendered the card absolutely invisible to
the sight of normal people. It will be seen that this precaution in no
way modified the success of the experiment.1
1 I made several experiments on diagrams with Leonie. Some of these succeeded
better than any of those which I recounted in my last memoir, but I do not mention
them here, for I wish to confine myself to matter of absolute proof, and I do not think
that experiments with diagrams have the same demonstrative force as experiments
with cards, where the chances are exactly known. I will mention one observation
alone ; a remarkable instance either of thought-transference, or, as I am strongly in-
clined to suppose, of lucidity.
On Monday, July 2nd, after having passed all the day in my laboratory, I
hypnotised Leonie at 8 p.m., and while she tried to make out a diagram concealed in
an envelope I said to her quite suddenly: "What has happened to M. Langlois?"
L&mie knows M. Langlois from having seen him two or three times some time ago in
my physiological laboratory, where he acts as my assistant. " He has burnt himself,"
Leonie replied. " Good," I said, " and where has he burnt himself ? " "On the left
hand. It is not fire : it is I don't know its name. Why does he not take care
when he pours it out?" "Of what colour," I asked, "is the atuft vrtvicto. \\fc\Ks\ara
70
Further Experiments in HypnoHc
Record of the Experiments. — This record of experiments consists
entirely of a conspectus of the cards as guessed by 7\jk>nie. To this I
subjoin a conspectus of the results actually given by chance alone in
an identical series of drawings. The table explains itself. I have, tf
course, neglected the guesses made by Leonie in the course of her
groping search, and have counted the final guess alone.
First Series.
Card in an Opaque Envelope.
H stands for hearts, D for diamonds, &c. ; K f or king, &e. F means figure or court-
card, when the special court-card is not stated.
6 x
Date.
Card
in
Card
guessed
by
Leonie.
Card
drawn at
Remarks.
£«
Envelope.
hazard.
1
July 15
4H
H
9H
2
,f
10 H
D
3H
3
July 16
10 H
EH
2D
4
»»
QH
H
.10
5
,,
8S
S
2S
6
,»
2D
C
7H
7
July 18
KnC
C
QH
8
,,
90
C
6H
9
»»
5H
C
30
She had guessed hearts all the
time, but said club at the last
moment.
10
j»
KnD
F D
5H
11
,,
8H
H
9H
12
July 19
1C
S
6S
Here again she guessed clubs tOl
the last.
13
j »
5C
C
4D
14
»»
30
D
QS
15
»»
KB
KB
8D
16
»»
3D
D
5H
17
»»
10 0
S
IS
18
»»
6 S
H
10C
out ? " ** It is not red, it is brown ; he has hurt himself very much — the skin puffed
up directly."
Now, this description is admirably exact. At 4 p.m. that day M. Langlois had
wished to pour some bromine into a bottle. He had done this clumsily, so that some
of the bromine flowed on to his left hand, which held the funnel, and at once burnt
him severely. Although he at once put his hand in water, wherever the bromine had
touched it a blister was formed in a few seconds— a blister which one could not better
describe than by saying, " the skin puffed up." I need not say that Leonie had not
left my house, nor seen anyone from my laboratory. Of this I am absolutely certain,
and I am certain that I had not mentioned the incident of the burn to anybody. More-
over, this was the first time for nearly a year that M. Langlois had handled bromine,
and when Leonie saw him six months before at the laboratory he was engaged in
experiments of quite another kind. Of course, I give here all the words I used, and
only the words I used, when I interrogated Leonie.
Decisive though this observation was, I should find it very hard to estimate the
probability of a correct guess. I think the incident a very important one; but I
prefer the cases now to be detailed, where the probability is exactly measurable.
Lucidity or Clairvoyance.
71
Date.
Card
in
Card
guessed
by
Leonie.
Card
drawn at
RAftarkf,
Envelope.
hazard.
July 19
KD
0
4H
>
I opened envelope and looked at
card unseen by her; asked
what it was. "It is not a
club/' she answered, "it is
the queen of diamonds."
99
38
8
10 H
July 20
7C
C
28
19
K8
c
78
Said spades till the last.
99
10 H
0
5D
99
1C
1C
KC
99
9D
0
50
Said diamonds till the last.
19
Q S
FS
QS
99
4C
c
10 H
July 21
KS
H
1H
99
58
S
8D
There were by accident two cards
in the envelope, of which one
was 5 8.
99
8D
H
8C
99
10 H
H
QS
99
7C
H
5H
99
2C
H
2H
)9
AD
S
KC
99
1H
1H
6C
99
48
C
3D
99
3H
D
QD
99
QO
H
3H
July 22
KnC
KnS
QH
Experiments of July 22 made in
presence of fli. R. Alexandre.
99
7H
H
88
99
KC
KC
1C
,,
2D
2D
9H
,,
9H
0
38
Said hearts till the last.
99
*n
4D
2D
9»
KH
KH
QS
Second Series of Experiments.
Cards with Two Opaque Envelopes.
Date.
Card
in
Envelope.
Card
guessed
by.
Leonie.
Card
drawn at
hazard.
Remarks.
July 22
July 23
July 24
98
KnS
98
D
H
S
3C
3D
98
K C
Violent storm, which made hor
very ill.
Experiments of July 24 made in
presence of M. P. Langlois.
Further Experiments mi Hypnotic
*i
Card
Card
guessed
by
Card
Remarks.
&
Envelope
hazard.
BO
Jnly 24
1 C
i C
5H
:.|
7D
D
9H
uss
QS
D
K8
A»
68
D
KnH
M
2S
D
68
A5
QH
QD
IS
M
10 £
ion
10 D
67
July 25
K 0
KG
KnD
Experiments of July 25 in pra-
ctice of M. E. Guiard. In
Experiment 57 M. Guiard had
seen the card before ho placed
it in the envelope.
BK
10 s
D
IOC
RSI
«H
D
4H
M)
9D
9D
7D
61
July 26
QD
C
KnC
Third Series op Experiments.
Card* toith Two Envelope* and a Freth Pack.1
It
Card
Card
T by"
Card
Envelope.
hazard.
m
July 26
48
S
7S
EnH
H
SS
G4
July 30
QD
S
KnD
Experiments made in the pre-
sence of Dr. J. Hencourt.
nn
QH
H
40
66
■■
80
C
KnD
She counted 10, and said, " It U
whiter than a 10."
67
48
H
IS
68
KS
S
BH
Discussion and Calculation Based on these Experiments.
In undertaking the discussion of these 68 experiments we at once
perceive that we must divide them into two parts. In the first place,
we have one set in which the card was told completely, pips, suit, and
colour, and another set in which only the suit was told. But let us
begin by examining the whole group of the experiments ; we shall
then see what are the lines of division which we most draw between
them.
In these GS experiments the antecedently probable number of
cards told completely right will be either one or two ; the probable
' I wished to try the same experiment with a completely new pack.
Lucidity or Clavrvoyance.
73
number of suits rightly named will be 17, and the probable number of
colours rightly named 34.
We may compare these numbers with the cards actually drawn at
hazard, and then with the cards guessed by Leonie.
A. — Cards entirely right.
Antecedent probability
By actual chance-drawing
Guessed by Leonie
B. — Cards with suit right.
Antecedent probability ,
By actual chance-drawing ,
Guessed by Leonie ,
0. — Cards with colour right.
Antecedent probability ,
By actual chance-drawing
Guessed by Leonie
It will be seen that under each of these three categories there was
a notable excess of actual successes over the antecedent probabilities,
and that this excess was more marked in proportion as the antecedent
probability was smaller. The result of actual chance-drawing will be
seen to have corresponded pretty closely to the theoretic probabilities.
If we consider the numbers day by day we shall see that almost
every day there was a marked excess of successes. Let us take the
indication of suits alone.
1 or 2
1
12
17
19
36
34
38
46
Number
Suits
Suits
Suits likely
to be drawn
right by theory
of chances.
Day. ]
Date.
of
Drawings.
guessed
right.
drawn
right.
1 Ju
ilylS
2
1
2
0*5
2 ,
, 16
4
3
1
1
3 ,
, 18
5
4
1
1-26
4 ,
, 19
9
4
1
2 26
5
, 20
7
4
3
175
6
, 21
11
3
0
2 75
7
, 22
9
6
4
2*25
3
, 23
1
0
1
0 25
9 ,
, 24
8
4
2
2
10 ,
, 25
4
2
2
1
11
> 28
3
2
1
0 75
12
, 30
3
2
2
0-75
13 Ai
ig. 2
2
1
1
0 50
Among these 13 days of experimentation we find once only an excess
of the theoretical number over the cards guessed by Leonie. And on
that day only one card was tried, Leonie being extremely ill. The
actual chance-drawing twice shows an excess over Leonie's successes, is
twice equal, and on the other nine days is inferior.
74
Further Experiments in Hypnotic
It will be seen also that (1) the interposition of a second envelope,
and (2) the employment of a new pack of cards did not apparently
modify Leonie's lucidity. In the first series (one envelope) in 45 trail
we find 7 cards told completely right, and 23 with suit right — the
theoretic numbers being 1 and 11. In the second series (two opaqoe
envelopes) in 16 trials we find 5 cards were told completely right,
and 7 cards with suit right — the theoretic numbers being 0 and 4.
In the third series (fresh pack of cards and two opaque envelope!)
in seven trials we find 5 cards with suit told rightly — the theoretic
number being 2.
By a rough calculation, the probability that in 68 trials then
will be 36 successes at least in guessing the suit is found to be lew
than . — —
100,000'
Returning to what has been already said, we see at once that these
trials must be divided into two groups. In the first group come the
trials where the card guessed was completely described (pips, suit* and
colour) ; in the second group come the cases where the suit alone was
guessed.
It is remarkable in how large a proportion of those cases in which
Leonie described the guessed card completely, the description was
completely right.
The following is a list of the cases where the guessed card was
completely, or nearly completely described : —
True Card.
(
3ard Described.
1
9 • •
10 H
• • •
...
KH
2
i • •
• ft •
KnD
• • •
...
FD
3
• ft 4
• •
KD
• ••
...
KD
4
1 • ft
1 • •
1C
• • •
...
1C
5
» • •
1 • •
QS
• • •
...
FS
6
> • ft
1 • ft
1H
• • •
..a
1H
7
1 • •
» • •
KnH
• • •
...
KnS
8
1 • •
1 • •
KC
• • •
• . «
KC
9
• • •
• • •
2D
• • •
...
2D
10
• • 4
• •
4D
• • •
...
4D
11
• •
1 • •
K H
• • •
• • .
K H
12
» ft • «
• •
QD
« • •
• • .
QD
13
• • 1
• •
1C
• • •
...
1C
14
• • •
• •
QH
• • •
...
QD
15
• ■ ft
1 • •
10 H
* • •
• • .
10 H
16
1 • •
1 • ft
KC
• • •
...
KC
17
ft • ft
ft • ft
9D
• • •
...
9D
Thus in 68 trials Leon
ie only 17 times offered
a full description, and
of these descriptions tl
lere
were two where
the description was
incomplete — " court-card
in
diamonds
" for
knave of diamonds, and
" court-card in spades " fc
>r queen of spades — an '
incompleteness which
assuredly ought no
>t to <
3ount as an error.
But let us set aside these
Lucidity or Clairvoyance. 75
incomplete descriptions, and consider only the 15 complete ones,
find that in 15 cards completely described there were three errors.
1 these errors were only partial ; king of hearts for 10 of hearts :
re of spades for knave of hearts ; queen of diamonds for queen of
ts.
Sow the antecedent probability of a completely correct description
r ; and if we calculate the probability of correctly describing 12
s out of 15 we arrive at a fraction so small as to leave us a moral
itude that chance alone cannot have brought about such a result,
rhis probability is approximately 1 in 1,000,000,000,000,000,000.
[t seems to me, then, to be needless to insist further that chance is
here the agent. It is not chance, it is something else ; what else
Dust presently try to determine.
Bat first let us see what is to be made of the other experiments if
diminate these 17 trials. Fifty-one trials remain, in which Leonie
the suit right 21 times; whereas the probable number was 13.
chance of telling the suit right 21 times in 51 trials is small ; but
Ear greater than the chances with which we have just been dealing.
; result alone would not suffice to establish Leonie's lucidity. It
es, however, that even when the best experiments are omitted, she
replied with more accuracy than chance-drawings actually gave,
beoretically should give.
But there is a wide difference between these 51 trials where the
plete description of the card was not given, and the 1 7 trials where
xls given. Taking the suit alone (chance of rightness £) we find,
be first group of 51, 21 successes; in the second group of 17, 15
esses. The chance of 15 successes in 1 7 trials is roughly 1 in 10,000,000.
all not dwell further on the hypothesis of chance, which seems to
ibsurd. It is not chance which can give the right card 1 2 times
Since, then, the hypothesis of chance must be rejected, we need to
tinise the conditions of the experiments. In the first place it is
i that thought-transference (suggestion mentale) cannot be
ked as an explanation. Only in two cases (Experiments 57 and 19)
such transference possible. In Experiment 57 my friend M. E.
ird had looked at the card before he placed it in the envelope. He
ained from giving any indication, and contented himself with
rering, " Right ! " when Leonie said, " It is the king of clubs."
'n Experiment 19, after Leonie had said erroneously, "It is a
," I looked at the card and saw that it was a king of diamonds.
i absolutely certain that she could not see the card while I looked
See p. 151 in Proceedings XII. In the 433 trials recounted in my previous
' there were only six cards fully described.
76 Further Experiments in Hypnotic
at it. She then said, " It is the queen of diamonds," without any
indication on my part further than by telling her that it was not ft
club. (This experiment has, of course, been counted as a failure.)
The examination of the cards of which a full description was given,
shows an interesting peculiarity. They were mainly court-cards and
aces. Among the 17 fully-described cards, while the proportion given
by chance would have been 5 or 6 court-cards and aces, there were in
fact 13. She seems then to see court-cards better than cards with jape.
We come now to the delicate and difficult question : Was her
success due to some defect in the experimentation ?
My mode of procedure was as follows : From the midst of 10 packs
of 52 cards each, I drew at hazard a card which I placed in an opaque
envelope. I did this in low light at one end of my library, which ii
nearly five metres in length, Leonie sitting at the opposite end, with
her back turned to me. Moreover, I drew the card very rapidly, so
that in order to see it it would have been necessary (1) to lie on the
floor in front of me ; (2) to bring the lamp and set it on the floor. It
is then absolutely (I say absolutely) impossible that the card could have
been seen at the moment when I put it in the envelope. The envelope
was gummed, and I closed it at once. Certainly, during an experiment
which sometimes lasted two or three hours, I occasionally took my eyes
off the subject for some instants ; but it is impossible to open a gummed
envelope in a few instants — water and minute care are needed —
without leaving some trace. At the moment when I was about to
open the envelope I rigorously observed that it was the same
envelope, that it had no tear in it, and that the fastening was
absolutely intact. Consequently the envelope had not been
opened, and it was the same envelope. The name of the card
indicated by Leonie was written by her in full, or written by me,
before the envelope was opened ; and, moreover, I kept an exact — a
religiously exact — account of all the experiments made ; so that the
15 experiments, with 12 successes, must be regarded as the exact
number. No conscious or unconscious, mental or non-mental sugges-
tion could be made by me, since I was totally ignorant of the card
placed in the envelope.
At the moment when the envelope was opened my eyes did not
quit the card which Leonie drew from the envelope till the moment
when I had recognised what it was. Often I withdrew the card myself,
in which case no trickery was possible. Unfortunately, in some cases,
which I have very wrongly omitted to note, Leonie, as I have said,
withdrew the card herself. I followed it with my eyes carefully when
she did not show it to me immediately, and I am sure that it was in
fact the card withdrawn from the envelope which she showed me. Still,
this is a small flaw in my method, necessitating, to my great regret, a
Lucidity or Clairvoyance. 77
certain reserve in my expressions of absolute certitude. The reader,
doubtless, will consider my scruples as exaggerated ; for it is absurd to
assume in Leonie a manual skill greater than that of the most accom-
plished conjurer. To make the card in the envelope disappear, and to
replace it by another at 25 centimetres from me, — that is all but
impossible ; and if I give expression to this objection it is not that I
suppose that Leonie could have tricked me in these experiments, but
because I desire to suggest against myself all the objections which can
possibly be made. This objection, then, seems to me to have little force,
for the following reasons : —
1. Because the good faith of Leonie was almost always complete.
(On this point a special discussion will be needed.)
2. Because in many cases — half at least of the cases — it would have
been absolutely impossible for her to use any trickery.
3. Because it would be necessary to credit her with an incredible
skill in prestidigitation, of which she certainly is quite devoid. She
barely knows the names of the cards.
We come, then, to the question of Leonie's good faith. I need not
say that I am not speaking of simulation of the hypnotic trance. This
she does not and cannot simulate. But there is in her a double
existence. She is Leonie when she is awake, and Leontine when she
is entranced. Leonie and Leontine are two quite distinct personages ;
and assuredly Leontine does not simulate the trance ; her entranced
state is as real as Leonie's waking state.
But this Leontine has a very active and definite character of her
own. She has tastes, affections, memories, which have created for her
a real personality. It would then be quite possible that there should
be, not indeed simulation ' of the trance, but trickery in the trance,
which is a very different thing. The question is : Is Leontine capable
of deceiving me 1
To my great regret she w so capable. I am obliged to state that I
have once caught her actually cheating me ; 1 and this, in fact, is the
1 The way in which Leontine cheated, during one of those states of unconsciousness
of which I spoke above, was this : I had drawn a card and marked it, without seeing it,
and taken it into the next room. Then I told her to try to guess it. She said 10 of spades.
Now the card that I had taken into the next room was really a king of hearts, which
I found the next day with the mark that I had made on it. That is what Leonie's
trickery consists in. I say nothing about the cards enclosed in an envelope, which are
left with her so that she may guess them in the course of the day or night, for, in this
case, there is no doubt that, in an unconscious interval, she opens the envelope to look
at the card and then puts it back at once very carefully into the envelope. The
personality which carries on all these operations does so without either Leonie or
Leontine knowing anything about it, and Leonie, in the utmost good faith, thinks
that she has made a right guess about the card which she claims never to have seen.
I therefore consider as reliable experiments only those in which I have been able to
watch Leonie all the time.
78 Further ExperiTnents in Hypnotic
reason which prevents me from citing a series of experiments made
later, from August 2nd to September 10th, and intended to exclude the
hypothesis of hyperesthesia of touch or sight — for in these experiments
trickery was possible, while it was not possible in the earlier ones. Bat
a fraud of Leontine's is not the same thing as a fraud of an ordinary
person, on account of the complexity of Madame B.'s constitution.
We have, as already said, Leonie, the waking personage, Leontine, the
entranced personage, and moreover Leonora, a different personage,
whose somnambulism is extremely profound, and on whom M. Perrier,
and afterwards M. Janet, have made some instructive experiments.
Besides these three different personalities, characterised by memorial
special to each, there are others also — Leonora, let us say, for
instance — corresponding to Madame B.'s condition of spontaneous
somnambulism during normal sleep,1 and perhaps other states of
consciousness, of which we have no knowledge.
Thus Leontine sometimes performs actions of which she retains no
recollection. She writes whole phrases without knowing that she
has written them. M. Pierre Janet has taught her to do this;
so that I should be tempted to believe that if there has been fraud on
Leontine's part, that fraud has been unconscious. This distinction is
important from a moral point of view ; but from our present experi-
mental standpoint it ought to inspire us with a great distrust, a
marked prudence in our conclusions. I only insist, therefore, on the
15 experiments above given, because I am certain that no conjurer,
however accomplished, could have told me the 12 cards which Leonie
did actually tell me.
PART II.
The experiments described above were made in June and July*
1888. They did not completely satisfy either my friends or me ; in.
fact, though they are conclusive against the hypothesis of chance, they
do not show in an absolutely irrefutable manner that there is not some
sort of extraordinary visual (retinal) acuity, and, moreover, they leave
a not altogether negligible place for the hypothesis of trickery.
It was necessary therefore to try to meet this two-fold objection,
and, on this account, I tried two new series of experiments with
Leonie.
The defective points in the former experiments are : —
(a) Leontine may change the envelope that I give her containing
the card to be guessed, and, having with her an envelope containing a
similar card, may present it to me as if it were the envelope that I
had given her.
i Ordinary nomenclature is quite inadequate to represent these different
Lucidity or Clairvoyance. 79
•
(b) Leontine may open the envelope that I give her, take the
card out, look at it, shut up the envelope again and pretend to have
guessed it. ';
(c) Leontine may hide a card in her hand, and, when she opens
the envelope herself, may give it to me as the one guessed.
I have already explained that these three objections are not, in my
opinion, valid, for
(1) I hardly took my eyes off L. from the moment when I gave
her the envelope, and there was never any suspicious gesture, as if
she were attempting to unfasten the two superposed envelopes. One
knows how difficult it is to unfasten a gummed envelope.
(2) The envelope that I gave her was almost (but not quite)
always marked, so that the substitution of another for it was im-
possible.
(3) From the moment when L. opened the envelope, I absolutely
never took my eyes off the card that she took out of it, and, in some
cases, I opened the envelope myself.
But although these objections do not seem to me to have much
force, the fact of their being raised demands for them a complete
refutation. I therefore took the following precautions : —
(1) The selected card was marked, and I kept in my pocket the
ten packs of cards from which I had taken it.
(2) The envelope in which the card was put was sealed with
sealing-wax and had a special mark.
(3) I opened the envelope myself, and, when once Leonie had
designated the card, she touched neither it nor the envelope.
These precautions are such that no conjurer could find satisfactory
objections to them.
I made two series of experiments with Leonie ; the first in Mr.
Myers' house at Cambridge from Thursday, January 31st, to February
15th, 1889. This series failed completely, which seems to happen when
the series of experiments is not sufficiently prolonged. Thus, for the
cards of the first part — the first experiment was on July 10th. But I
had hypnotised Leonie at intervals since May 20th, that is, for a month
and a half.
The last series of experiments was carried out at my house in Paris,
from July 12th to August 26th, under the conditions described above,
the only difference being that, having no more " opaque" envelopes, I
used some which are not opaque to transmitted light and the card in
the envelope was then enclosed in a second envelope, so that each card
was in a double envelope. Of course I satisfied myself that the card
thus enclosed was absolutely invisible to our normal eyes.
80
Further Experiments in Hypnotic
This series of experiments: is tabulated below, with the same
arrangement as before.
6 m
Date.
Card
in
Card
guessed
by.
Leonie
Card
drawn at
Remarks.
8§«
Envelope.
hazard.
1
July 13
2S
H
QS
2
99
9H
S
2D
3
99
4H
D
3S
(A small card, that is, 2, 3, 4 or 5,)
She wrote C.
4
July 14
6C
S
9H
5
99
10 D
c
AC
She wrote D.
6
9*
10 D
c
8S
7
99
QD
c
QH
She wrote C.
8
July 15
KH
c
3H
9
99
IOC
H
QD
10
99
9D
s
3D
11
July 17
8C
s
6C
She wrote C.
12
99
7D
c
K0
13
July 18
8H
c
2H
She wrote H.
14
99
30
H
5H
She wrote C.
15
99
5S
s
QS
16
July 21
20
c
8C
17
99
KnH
c
8D
18
99
6C
0
AH
19
July 22
KnS
FS
10 H
20
99
2D
s
8C
21
July 29
4S
s
AH
She wrote H.
22
99
8S
s
2C
She wrote S.
23
99
KD
QS
KnS
She said suddenly : " There is a
figure, a queen or a king."
24
July 30
AH
D
2H
She drew persistently an ace on
the envelope and wrote C.
25
99
KnS
KnS
KnD
26
July 31
AC
4D
10 H
27
w
99
3S
3H
70
She said S.all the time, and 3 of S.
28
Aug. 1
5S
2S
KnS
29
99
5D
D
KS
She said: "A small D.
30
Aug. 4
AS
S
5S
31
99
8H
80
2H
From this experiment onwards, the cards were put into a three-fold envelope
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
Aug. 4
40
H
8D
99
7D
S
10 D
Aug. 6
2D
5S
KnH
99
60
C
10 D
Aug. 10
KS
2H
4H
99
KC
FC
KnD
99
4D
C
5H
Aug. 13
8H
7S
4C
99
KS
S
KnD
99
8S
C
9S
Aug. 15
7H
3C
7S
She said : " It is a figure," at the
moment when I was going to
open the envelopes.
Lucidity or Clairvoyance.
83
From this experiment onwards, two envelopes were m*-. k^ han(j
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
60
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
Aug. 15
99
Aug! 18
99
99
99
EnO
H
EnO
QD
FD
7D
2H
D
4H
48
3H
10 0
EnD
D
EnD
AD
FH
10 D
70
S
AS
(Ask
She nut
\
She said : *\
<£/
> the
<£ne
$
From this experiment onwards, three envelopes weK
Aug. 19
99
99
99
Aug. 21
99
99
99
Aug. 25
99
99
Aug! 26
99
99
99
40
8
58
5D
28
EnH
EnH
FH
ES
38
S
9H
48
20
5H
88
38
EO
9H
3S
9S
6D
F D
3D
5D
H
30
9H
8
ED
5H
5H
EnD
6H
30
AS
5H
28
9H
8S
H
80
5D
H
2H
EnS
FO
QO
("There is a point in the middle.")
("A point in the middle.")
Although if we take the whole of this second series of experi-
ments, the amount of success is not more than we might have
expected by chance, there is, I think, nevertheless, some evidence point-
ing to lucidity. L£onie only attempted to guess anything more than
the suit in 25 cases ; in 9 of those 25 cases she guessed that the card
was a court-card, and in 7 out of the 9 this was true. In 5 of these
cases, moreover, she guessed rightly the suit to which the court-card
belonged. Only once, when a court-card was drawn and she attempted
to guess more than the suit, did she fail to designate it as a court-card.
This certainly looks like some abnormal capacity for discerning court-
cards, especially when we remember that it was mainly in guessing
court-cards and aces that she succeeded in the first series.
Conclusion.
As to the conclusions to be drawn from this long series of experi-
ments, there are only four possible hypotheses.
(1) Some defect in the experimentation.
(2) Chance.
(3) Some exceptional acuteness in retinal vision or in the sense of
touch.
(4) Some capacity of obtaining knowledge, whose modus operandi
is absolutely unknown to us.
80
Further Experiments in Hypnotic
JStf&far as I can Bee, there was no defect of experimentation in
a a?econd series of trials. I have not the presumption or conceit to
-^tifrm that there was none, but, for my part, I do not see in what point
the experiments can be defective. The card is marked by me and pat
into three envelopes sealed with sealing-wax ; Leonie attempts to guea
it in my sight. I take it out of the envelope myself, and 1 only take
account of her final guess.
In the first series the defect in the experiments was very slight!
so slight that I myself consider the experiments to be valid: the
hypothesis that Leonie cheated me as often as would be required to
account for her success — by substituting a card chosen by her for the
one that I had taken, or another envelope for the envelope that I gate
her — seems to me absurd. Experiment 57, besides, tells against this
greatly strained explanation, and so does the fact that so large a
proportion — 13 out of 17 — of the cards fully guessed were court-cards
and aces.
We must then accept the experiments of the second series as
irreproachable and those of the first series as almost irreproachable.
(2) Chance cannot be credited with the designations of the first
series. In fact the probability of guessing 12 out of 15 cards right is
so small that it is absolutely certain that chance could not produce
such a series.
The experiments of the second part are less conclusive, but Leonie's
success in designating court-cards in these experiments appears to me
to afford distinct confirmation of the first series. It would certainly
have been more satisfactory if the second series of experiments had
been as successful as the first, but nevertheless, I think, we may con-
clude from the two series taken together that neither chance nor
trickery will explain Leonie's success.
(3) We are left, then, to the two other hypotheses of visual or tactile
hyper acuity on the one part, and on the other part of a faculty of
knowledge whose modus agendi is unknown to us.
And first as to tactile hyperesthesia. The pips and the figures are
painted on the cards, and rise in a relief which, though very slight, might
enable a person whose sense of touch was abnormally acute to recog-
nise a card enclosed in an envelope. But I do not regard it as possible
that this could be done through two thicknesses of paper. The sense of
touch which could accomplish this feat would be very unlike the
sense of touch which we actually know.
Is it then to be explained by some specially keen power of retinal
vision ?
That is possible, and I confess that my mind is not quite made up on
this point. The fact that Leonie discerns court-cards and aces especially
Lucidity or Clairvoyance. 83
well would seem to point to retinal vision. But on the other hand,
the addition of a second envelope did not affect the result. Also the
entranced Leontine seems to have her eyes closed. I believe that the
eyelids are only lowered, and that the rays of light, half-intercepted
by the eyelids, do reach the retina, but at any rate she never looks
at anything except with nearly closed eyes, and allowing only a small
ray of light to enter beneath her eyelids, and this is by no means a
convenient way to look at things. And further, she does not attempt
to take the cards into the sunlight or lamplight.
Moreover, in judging of this question we must not leave out of
account the numerous instances of lucidity shown by L£onie and other
somnambules, in cases where it cannot be due to retinal vision. (See,
e.g.) the example quoted by me on p. 164, Proceedings, Part XII.)
I may add that even if it be retinal vision, a retinal vision so much
more developed than ours would almost amount to a new perceptive
faculty.
(4) We have, consequently, to admit the existence of some faculty
entirely unknown to us — lucidity or second-sight — whichever name is
applied to it — which is to be met with quite exceptionally in certain
subjects, and, even with them, quite irregularly and with no possibility
hitherto of determining the conditions of its occurrence.
But the method that I have adopted to prove this important fact is
purely empirical and cannot carry conviction with it. In the
experimental sciences, one thing is necessary, viz., to be able to control
the conditions of the experiment. If a chemist were to find a new
substance and were to declare himself unable to say how he found it
or to produce it again, nobody would listen to him, and that would
perhaps be reasonable. In the same way, I have obtained some
phenomena of lucidity, but I frankly declare myself unable to tell how
I obtained them or why I succeeded sometimes and sometimes failed,
and I cannot undertake to produce them again. This is empiricism,
not science.
I cannot, however, draw from this any discouraging conclusion.
On the contrary, we have here a whole series of absolutely new
phenomena immersed in deep shadow, like every science in its infancy.
The problem then must be attacked resolutely but methodically,
as in experimental sciences. Perhaps after all the so-called occult
sciences are only a chapter in Physical Science — a singularly delicate
Physical Science — and I am firmly convinced that we must have
recourse to Physical Science in attempting some explanation and some
definition of these phenomena, which, to my mind, are certain but
inexplicable.
*<L
84 Duplex Personality.
V.
DUPLEX PERSONALITY.
an essay on the analogy between hypnotic phenomena and certain
experiences of the normal consciousness.1
By Thomas Barkworth.
" A good use of uncommon things is to force us to look more curiously at the
meaning of common things which we overlook habitually." — Maudslky.
Seeing that no result can be produced experimentally in an organ-
ism, of which the causes and the constituents are not pre-existent in it,
it would be strange indeed if the remarkable performances of hypnotised
persons had no parallel in the experiences of daily life. For, however
widely the one may differ from the other in the degrees and modes of
manifestation, there will be sufficient resemblance in their nature and
operation to enable us to recognise them as symptoms of the same
functions, or effects of the same forces. Naturally, the first class
affords the most attractive subjects for speculation, being more clearly
defined, more salient in feature, and more startling in results ; but
granting these points of vantage, and allowing moreover that beyond
their inherent interest they have a relative value in throwing light
upon the constitution of mind in abnormal states, I am inclined to
think that one of their chief points of interest will prove to be the
directing of attention to corresponding normal features, laws, and
operations of mind, which we might otherwise leave unnoticed although
continually in presence of them.
As an instance I may point to those indications of distinct phniXl
of consciousness which have been termed " Duplex " or " Multiplex
Personality." At present it seems to me that " Duplex Personality"
would be a term wide enough to cover nearly all the phenomena
recorded ; but at all events, without these and similar investigations,
the Unity of human consciousness would have remained a dogma
unshaken and almost unchallenged. It is to the manifestation of this
Duplex Personality — called elsewhere, and in relation to other cases,
primary and secondary consciousness — that I wish to address myself
with the object of showing how their comparatively dissevered and
almost opposite action is not only observable in the hypnotic state,
but also in the e very-day actions of life, and that it is chiefly owing
1 What is here published is a portion of an essay by Mr. Barkworth, somewhat
enlarged ninee it wan read at a meeting of the Society on January 25th, 1889. It
ought to be stated that the Editor of the Proceed in ffs, and not the author of the paper*
irresponsible for the selection of the portion here published.
Duplex Personality. 85
to the very frequency and commonplace nature of the evidences for
it that they have remained so little recognised, and their import so
unsuspected.
The most prominent and prevailing characteristic of the ordinary
actions of our waking life is that they are performed in obedience to the
will, and as a rule, the will not only suggests the action, but presides
over its fulfilment.
This rule is, however, subject to numerous exceptions to be pre-
sently noticed. The actions of the hypnotic state, on the other hand,
are largely characterised by what may be called automatism ; that is to
say, being started by suggestion1 they seem to be carried on without
volition until the effect of the impulse dies out, or until the suggested
action is fully completed, and cannot therefore be any longer continued,
or until the suggestion is changed, or put an end to, by the operator.2
In these cases, however, it is only the execution and not the initiation
of the movements which is automatic, the suggestion for them being
external to the subject's own personality.
Hypnotic subjects are usually so harried with suggestions as to have
little opportunity for showing what they would do if permitted to follow
their own inclinations, and just as any absurdity seems in dreams to be
perfectly natural and commonplace, so in the hypnotic trance the most
bizarre notions can be imposed upon a subject without arousing in him
any sense of incongruity. A man can be made to believe that he
is a hen, and to chuckle and spread his wings over an imaginary brood
of chickens, but neither in this case, nor in the more or less similarly
absurd dreams which are often experienced in natural sleep, does any
sense of improbability, still less of the ludicrous, seem to strike the
sleeper. I except, however, those dreams which the harassed, over-
worked man suffers from when he, in sleep, goes over again the
anxieties and worries of the day's study or business, or rehearses those
of the morrow. In this case his sleep is not sufficiently profound to let
the reasoning powers rest, or in the language of hypnotists, his primary
consciousness is not completely inhibited, consequently his dreams are,
even painfully, rational and coherent, and he commonly remarks on
waking that he feels fatigued rather than refreshed. We have, how-
ever, instances of complete automatism in the case of the sleep-walker
who goes through a variety of complicated actions entirely self-sug-
gested. In the great majority of even these cases, however, the
1 The term suggestion is used throughout this paper in the technical sense familiar
to students of hypnotism.
9 If the limbs (of the hypnotised subject) are disposed so as to begin any action
it is carried on by the subject, and in this way he may be made to climb or go on all
fours, or if a pen or a piece of work be put into his hand, he will write or sew.
Animal Magnetism, Binet and F6r6, p. 181.
86 Duplex Personality..
element of suggestion is not entirely absent, the suggestion being
supplied by the subject's own memory or engrained habits. Thus the
somnambulic dairymaid will turn the churn,the needlewoman will work
away at the unfinished garment, to the completion of which she has
been anxiously looking to provide her weekly rent, and so on. A far
rarer and more interesting case, of which instances are not wanting, is
that of the sleep walker, whose actions are not only not suggested by the
memories of his waking life, but are of such a nature as he could not
perform in his waking state, e.g., physically — walking or climbing along
the edges of roofs or narrow parapets where a single false step would
be death ;l mentally — writing poetry, or composing music above the
level of his ordinary powers. In these last-named cases automatism
seems to rise to intuition.
Having thus distinguished between actions mental or physical,
which are (a) voluntary, (b) suggested and automatic, and (c) intuitive
and automatic, we may now proceed to inquire how far the two latter
states are exhibited in the ordinary actions of healthy persons in their
waking hours, bearing in mind that in their case the term suggestion
must be restricted to the self-imposed dictates of their own will auto-
matically executed.
(A) On the first of these classes there is no need to dwell. The
mental processes and actions comprised in it cause or constitute the
vast majority of the conscious acts of sane persons. The will not only
determines upon them, but presides over their fulfilment,and they attain
their end by a succession, or a combination of thoughts, or thoughtful
acts, consciously planned, or co-ordinated, to a definite intelligible end.
In reading a book, in writing (not copying} a letter, in conversation,
and in all forms of study wo have examples of this class.
(B) The second class, which includes the bulk of the phenomena
with which it is my present purpose to deal, presents to us voluntary
and automatic consciousness acting in combination, but far more inde-
pendently than is commonly supposed. Just as a suggestion made to a
hypnotic subject by another person is automatically carried out by the
1 " Dr. Paul Gamier gives an instance of a patient, a dentist's assistant, of feeble
bodily and mental health, who frequently fell into a state of somnambulism. On one
of these occasions he escaped by a window from a ward of the Hdtel Dieu, in which
he was undergoing treatment, and, though a peculiarly unathletio person, walked
easily and fearlessly along the sloping parapet of the facade, a feat which a trained
gymnast could hardly have accomplished. He awoke in the course of this dangerous
I>erformance, and had to be rescued by means of a ladder. With the return of con-
sciousness reason awoke ami he understood the horror of his position." SomnatnbulUwu
devant Us TriV;t<ri<vf i<jr,Paris,1888, quoted by Dr. Lloyd Tuckey. The italics are mine.
An exactly similar case occurred not long since at one of the large hotels near Charing
Cross. In this case the individual in question had dreamed that the house was on
fire and that he had to escape by the roof. He woke in a most perilous position,
and his cries of terror brought assistance and rescue.
Dwplex Personality. 87
former, so, in the case of normal self-suggestion, the will prescribes a
course of action which is then automatically carried out by the voluntary
muscles. The mind having in the meantime become engaged with other
subjects, the limbs nevertheless continue to perform the prescribed
action until the mind, being recalled to the subject, chooses to arrest or
vary it.
1. The simplest cases in illustration of this are those of walking,
eating, or dressing, where the action once voluntarily commenced is
continued to completion, although the mind has in the meanwhile
become wholly engrossed with another subject. The case is shown much
more clearly, however, when the suggestion takes the form of a standing
order engrained by habit. If a good hypnotic subject were ordered
thus : " Every morning at nine o'clock you will leave your house and
walk to the end of the street where you will catch the bus," he would
do so until the suggestion wore off.
Now, let it be supposed that a man who is usually accustomed to
do this very thing, one morning receives a letter, which absorbs his
attention at the time when he is leaving his house to go in a new and
different direction. If his mind be so engrossed with the letter as to be •
withdrawn from considering his destination, and so from imposing a
new suggestion upon his movements, the old suggestion will continue to
operate, and he will from " force of habit," as it is termed, walk to the
end of the street and perhaps even get into the " bus," and proceed some
distance, till his mind, accidentally recalled to the subject, peremptorily
suggests to him to stop the " bus " and retrace his route. This is
called " absence of mind " to which some persons are more subject than
others, just as some persons are better hypnotic subjects than others.
If you have an office or chambers from which you set out to transact
business at another place, afterwards returning to your own office, the
habit of always returning there will become a standing suggestion, and
when a day comes that you have three or four places to go to instead
of one, you will find, if your mind is much engrossed with business, that
instead of going the round of these places at once, you persist in
returning to your own quarters between each call, and to your great
vexation have to go back more or less over the same ground, just when
you arrive at your own door. This is a case taken from repeated
experience.
2. The case becomes more interesting when the action is more com-
plicated. It is often found that in reading music at the pianoforte, for
instance — it matters not whether the piece is seen for the first time or
not — the player will frequently allow his mind to wander to other
topics, and become so interested in them as quite to forget what he is
doing, and cease to be conscious of any attention to it. Nevertheless
the suggestion having been originally imposed by the mind to ^>Ykj \}tvs>
isuttiear P'-*r*rmaiitty,
U+ -faym r?H **vtriirae -wftuuacicady 11 'in
£.>U*r -U* *«-^ »*>ile *4l *he rime rhe rbmejhni
V*- ^*^ **wf \hi« r»;H ^nnruie innl vuneshmit
/v»r^f ^ -k* i*t*«u* <i*i^ti 4* rparthin^ The 4orf if *£»
* yt~*vp y*A*ntm% .tew siinVnlrie* fhr
■**A+ "Jf Inqprlnqr ;i> *v*t#m annul ami 'vmaaamm
,*#*?to**. •>* .4*mtnin<f p*w»r * mailed ftir % «ive dbs
«>>•!« *4i«*rf Trti« ^a*e In « <i\Mfinez and marked
flv»me»* v*e. frt nhat i*4ie aetion wa* #miy du* ample ace <rf walking
'♦/^*'*rt»v>»wly in % apv^n 4ireebrtn. repeacixur Y«bft «u muvuiienfi of Ac
># SU *.H* #vU iran reaeherf. whil* in she caae <rf die \m\*1i\iU
p**y*r "h*** *t* the 1*9*?*** Atonement* of ten. Omens axwdnutocd to
-vrt* **wf (s*t. rtwwfVwwviiA, hwt varied in every
**\4 UA\s?**A temi the printed page, yet ail dime without
'4 th* 'VrHiiver/ kind, xtA with ao exercise of the wfll
^$B^mv»v whv*h *i*it*d it. With thia eaae may be
^4**Ah*tV; ^perhnent* related by the late 3fr. Gnrney {.
'4 th+ frsfaty f/* PtythieaJ Keaeareh, Part XL, X<x 3) in
*n^«*4//n« /if word* t/, be written, or of calculations, were oftied to a
*»bje*t 4nt\u% hypwAi**K\/jto. Being then awakened and made to
* **/) *|//r>d, hi* hand '*» a plartfhette, he aatomatically executed tbe ng-
g****/) f^utk^ altbs/ngh hi* mind wax wholly given to the book. The
f*ff'sr matte* (4 mnnu; affords, however, a still more striking flfostrmtkm
t4 tb* relative fnttrt,umn //f tb* primary and the secondary conaeions-
u***. \u learning a new instrument, the production of each note is for
h Ufttft turn a separate intellectual act. The choice of the note in
i'*ttt*m\ftmt\*ufA with the printer] sign upon the page, the mode of pro-
i\w\u% St with the lips, or the bow, in combination with the fingers,
are all subjeet* /^f distinct thoughts, of which we are definitely aware.
My *UfW AfiHrwn and ^intinu^l practice the action tends to become
ttitlsttnntUi, thnt is to way the sight of the printed note suggests
ImuMimiM vely t^» the lijm and the fingers those combined movements which
Wife ffiwcNMftry to pro<luee it. At length there comes a time when we
(Hiss from the one state to the other, and, when playing a scale, for
IhslfUHw, we abandon the attempt to think of each note separately,
and simply starting from the top of the scale, and trusting ourselves
Ut aulomatlo guidance, we arrive at the lx>ttom of it we know not how ;
ami after further practice are enabled to play the scale with a rapidity
wltlelt dolles the effort to follow with the mind the separate pro-
ductlnn iir fingering of the notes. Not only is the action of the primary
or voluntary cntiMriousnw* of no use hore, but the attempt to exercise it
Is n dint I not nhstaolo to muocwr, and wo have in this fact one reason why
'•hervoumuW caimes performers to fail or "break down," as it is called.
Tht* /tntinly lo do well and the fear of failure cause the player, instead
Duplex Personality. 89
of abandoning himself to the action of his automatic faculties, to
obtrude operations of thought and will upon his fingers, and as his
thoughts are not capable of following his fingers with sufficient
rapidity, there ensues a want of correspondence between the two modes
of action, the first not being able to keep pace with the second,
which, as it were, is tripped up. The player is in fact thinking
of one note when he is playing another, although he may not be able
to discern the fact.
A physiological account of this phenomenon is given by Ferrier
(Functions of the Brain, pp. 252-3) as follows : —
" We have reason from the facts of comparative physiology to regard the
corpora striata as the centres in which these habitual or automatic movements
become organised. . . . Though the consciousness of sensory
impressions must precede - any truly volitional act in response thereto, we
find that by education and frequent repetition the action becomes so easy as
to follow impression without conscious discrimination or attention, the nexus
between impression and action becoming so organically welded in the sensory
and motor centres as to assume the character of reflex action below the domain
of consciousness. In this case we may suppose that impressions made on the
organs of sense travel up to the optic thalami, and thence pass directly to
the corpora striata instead of taking the larger or conscious circle through the
sensory and motor centres of the hemispheres. . . . We may express it
thus that in actions requiring conscious discrimination, and voluntary eflort,
the larger circle of the hemispheres is involved, but that in the actions which
have become habitual and automatic, the larger circle is greatly relieved by
the organic nexus between impression and action which has been established
in the sensory and motor basal ganglia."
The physiological theory thus stated may suflice to account for the
simpler classes of automatic actions. But even here it is noteworthy
that the distinguished writer from whom I have quoted, in his
endeavour to show that the reactions in question are " outside the sphere
of psychical activity properly so called," is unable even to state his own
view without resorting to the language of metaphor when he speaks of
the " nexus between impression and action becoming organically welded
in the sensory and motor centres": — we might safely challenge the
author to show us anatomically the "organic weld" of which he speaks.
We shall, however, presently see that both in hypnotic experiments
and in ordinary states of consciousness there is abundant evidence of
psychical activities, involving the action of the hemispheres and the
higher centres of the brain, which nevertheless are outside the domain
of normal consciousness and volition.
The higher we go in tracing the physical correlative of the mental
process the more difficult it becomes to locate it. While the merely
somatic energies, whether motor or sensory, can be assigned with reason-
able certainty to their respective centres, the higher seals ot \2tvoM^c&
90 Duplex Personality.
and reason cannot be found at all. The most that Dr. Ferrier feels him-
self entitled to say on this point is that " there is nothing inherently
improbable in the view that frontal development in special regions
may be indicative of the power of concentration of thought and intel-
lectual capacity in special directions/' although considerable portions of
the frontal lobes may be removed without any obvious impairment of
function. Nor do they respond to electrical stimulation.
At this point I shall venture to change the nomenclature which is
usually employed — and which I have so far myself used — to designate
the two modes of consciousness that I have distinguished, viz., primary
and secondary. These terms appear to me objectionable as implying
either (1) an order of succession in time which is not found in the
facts, or (2) a difference in moral dignity or functional importance
which is at present a mere assumption. The terms " active " and " pas-
sive " consciousness seem to me better adapted to express my own view
of the duality of consciousness, and I propose therefore to adopt them
in future. Under the head of " active consciousness " I shall include
all those voluntary operations of the mind which normally determine
our actions ; while referring to " passive consciousness " all the phe-
nomena of automatism, whether in the normal or hypnotic state, and
the power which, while employed to carry out the suggestions of the
will, either of the individual himself or of another person, is occasion-
ally able to transcend the behests laid upon it with highly interesting
results.
3. We may now advance to higher forms of the exhibition of the
passive consciousness. In walking we had an instance of simple auto-
matism ; in playing, of combined and complicated automatic action,
but in neither case was the passive consciousness called upon to do any-
thing more than follow mechanically a prescribed course of action,
indicated in the first instance by the initial movement of the limbs set
going by the will, and, in the second case, by the notes printed on a
sheet of music. In the case of adding up long columns of addition,
however, we get to something beyond either of these. Here, again, the
action is at first voluntary throughout, and gradually tends to become
automatic. A beginner needs all his attention, the addition of each
figure as he ascends the column being a problem to be separately con-
sidered ; but I have found that by degrees it is possible to cease think-
ing of the figures, and by constant practice to be able to add with great
rapidity and correctness while the mind is far away and busily engaged
with other subjects. Here there is no longer a merely monotonous
movement to be kept up, nor a printed guide to be followed, but a
succession of independent mental actions which are not foreseen, nor
taken at second-hand from a printed page, but arise spontaneously and
adapt themselves to any combination of figures.
Dwplex Personality. 91
The fact that these combinations are not foreseen, and yet are dealt
with as fast as they arise, would at first sight seem to show that the
passive consciousness was capable of originating as well as of executing
psychical actions. Further consideration will, however, disprove this,
so far as the present case goes. We have here, in fact, the develop-
ment of the operation of standing suggestions. It has become a stand-
ing order of the mind that two and two make four, and that nine and
four make thirteen, and so on ; and hence it is no longer necessary for
the mind to re-enact the rule on every separate occasion, but the passive
consciousness automatically obeys it, although the mind is " absent." A
parallel case in hypnotics is thus related by Mr. Gurney (Proceedings,
Part XII., pp. 4 and 5 )
" A large number of experiments were made in the working out of sums
by the 'secondary intelligence,' the sum being given to the subject while he
was in the hypnotic state, and the answer being written down by him
automatically with a planchette, while he was in the normal state, and wholly
unaware both of the act of reckoning and of what he was writing. . . .
He was made to place his right hand on the planchette * his attention being
occupied by reading aloud ' ... or some similar device."
The italics are my own.
In these cases and that of unconscious sight reading of music, it
does not seem possible to consider the mental action (which is applied,
for the first time, to a new subject requiring the exercise of much
higher than merely mechanical powers), as being accomplished by the
shorter circuit of which Dr. Ferrier writes. We must therefore con-
clude that automatic processes are occasionally wrought out in the
higher cerebral tracts also.
A curious case bearing on the same point was mentioned by Mr.
Myers at one of the meetings of the Society for Psychical Research. A
certain clerk in a French office having been hypnotised was told that
two and two made five. Next day all his work went wrong, and it
was not for some time discovered that he had in every place, when two
and two came together, added them as five. In his case the standing
order of his own intellect to consider two and two as four had been
superseded by the new injunction which continued to operate, although
he had no recollection of receiving it.
(C) We now come to the consideration of the third class of mental
and physical actions, those, namely, which I have ventured to describe
as not only automatic but intuitive. I mean by this term actions that
appear to involve intuitive mental powers. I am aware, of course,
that the existence of such powers is denied by some metaphysicians,
who attribute the performance of actions which can be acquired neither
by instruction, nor by personal experience, to hereditary instinct, and
the embodied experience of the race. This denial is not sur^rism^
92 Duplex Personality.
since if we allow the existence of purely intuitive powers, we seem
virtually to assert that effects can exist without a cause. Nevertheless
there remains a class of phenomena which apparently fulfils this very
definition, and although far from asserting that there is no cause for
them, I think it is impossible in our present state of knowledge to
show the cause, and I therefore adopt the word intuitive, provisionally,
to describe them.
I will take as a first, and typical, instance of intuitive thought
and action, the case of musical improvisation. The power of improvis-
ing music so as to employ the full capacity of the instrument, and to do
so with unhesitating fluency and without any conscious effort of the
mind, is somewhat rare ; and in describing it, I am compelled to rely
chiefly on my own experience. Where this power exists it exhibits the
faculty of intuitive passive consciousness in full exercise. The will
is entirely inoperative. Not only is no decision formed as to the theme
or its modifications, but there is not even any knowledge of what the next
bar will be. Thus I have constantly sat and listened to my own impro
visations, with as much interest as, and with no more knowledge of,
what was coming next, than another listener would have, and this
statement applies not only to melody or theme, but to the most elabor-
ate modulations of harmony, effected equally, moreover, without any
dependence on a theoretical knowledge of music, and in accordance with
some unknown instinct.
We have seen that in those actions which are suggested
and automatic, the will is able to control the passive conscious-
ness sufficiently to initiate them and to ensure their ultimate
fulfilment. It is far otherwise with those which are intuitive
and automatic. The will of the player may seat him at the organ, but
all its efforts will not cause ideas to flow. The faculty will, indeed, not
being extinguished but only dormant, respond to a limited extent — the
limits being those of habit, and of facility resulting from experience
— but the result will be poor and tame, and will disappoint no one more
than the performer himself. The fact of effort, then, will at once prove
the absence of inspiration, and warn the artist to desist.
The independence of the will shown by the passive consciousness in
its higher manifestation of intuitive power is, in fact, one of its most
remarkable characteristics; and the efforts of will not only fail to
induce these manifestations, but tend to hinder them, by disturbing that
serene and complete absorption in the task, which is essential. It seems
highly probable that the extraordinary powers of impromptu versification
shown by Theodore Hook and the late Mr. Serjeant Payne were of the
same intuitive kind as the faculty of musical improvisation above spoken
of. To sit down to the piano at a moment's notice and reel off verse
after verse of rhyme, without any consciousness of effort and without
Duplex Personality. 93
the least previous preparation, seems to imply intuitive power able to
dispense with the ordinary process of intellectual construction. For
consider, in the composition of even the simplest verses on a given
subject, according to the usual method, how many elements of construc-
tion have to be kept in view. There is, first, the rhythm or correct
syllabic balance of the lines ; next the rhyme requiring a word to be
found at the end of each line phonetically in correspondence with the
one above, and, concurrently with these, the invention of coherent
sentences which shall not only convey definite ideas, but shall do so with
so much wit and appropriateness as to cause the greatest amusement
to the company. I think it probable that if Mr. Hook or Mr. Payne
had been asked the question, they would have said that their conscious
mental participation in the performance was confined to that of a
listener, and that they were wholly unable to say how it was produced,
or to foresee the termination of a verse at the beginning of it.
To a limited extent, and with important modifications, the same
powers are exhibited by an orator. The subjects of an oration are, of
course, prepared entirely by the voluntary activity of the intellect, so
are also the order in which they come, and similar intellectual activity
is very seldom entirely absent during delivery. But in the
extemporaneous composition of individual sentences there is much that
seems intuitive. A sentence will be begun of which the conclusion is
not foreseen. Words rise at the right moment spontaneously to com-
plete it. Sometimes, indeed, when the speaker is searching either his
memory or his notes for the next head of his discourse, his mind will be
so occupied with this endeavour that he has for a few sentences to
trust almost entirely to the phrase-forming intuition to keep him going
till he is ready to start on the new subject. In proportion as he is able
to abandon himself to this phrase-forming faculty with confidence, so
will his address be fluent and unconstrained, and so also will he reap
the advantage of being able to concentrate his mind upon the more
important task of marshalling his subjects and elaborating his argu-
ment. In an unpractised speaker, or at the commencement of a speech,
we see the same hindrance offered by the intrusion of the will upon the
automatic powers which we previously noted in the case of the musical
performer. The self-conscious speaker, unable to trust him-
self to automatic guidance, labours to compose each sentence
separately, and consequently trips and stumbles like the player on an
instrument to which he is not accustomed. In connection with the
automatic power of phrase-forming I may here mention a fact drawn
from my own experience. It often happens that in the drowsy con-
dition of incipient slumber, when the active consciousness is almost
inhibited though not entirely lost, phrases form themselves spon-
taneously in the mind, having relation to no subject in paxtvcvxW^
94 Duplex Personality,
entirely disjointed from one another, and of course devoid of any
connected sense. This suggests an interesting question, viz., whether,
when the condition passes from drowsiness into sleep, these broken
fragments of language ever weld themselves into a coherent whole, and
if so, what may be the effect produced ? Now, it sometimes has
happened to persons, entirely devoid as they and their friends suppose of
any poetic faculty, to dream of reciting or reading long pieces of poetry.
They seem in their dream to be reading or reciting it without the
slightest effort of either memory or invention, and to continue some-
times for a space that would occupy several pages. Yet, on waking, not
a word is remembered. The question then arises : ' Did I, in my
dream, repeat real lines of poetry, or did I only fancy that I was doing
so upon a merely general idea of poetry in the mass ? The latter idea is
usually accepted by the person himself, oh the ground that as he could
not possibly write poetry with any amount of effort when he was awake,
it would be incredible that he should compose it without effort when he
was asleep. I have lately, however, had occasion to doubt this con-
clusion. Dreaming of being at the Royal Academy and of referring to
the catalogue for the name of a picture, I found it, as is often really
the case, described not by a title, but by a verse of poetry having
relation to its subject. I read off this verse with the same total
absence of effort and unconsciousness of invention that attends all
dreams, and, as it happened, instantly woke. The verse is not worth
quoting, but it rhymed and scanned correctly, had a metaphorical
application quite appropriate to the subject of the picture, and (what
is most significant) it would have been quite beyond my powers to
have invented it when awake. What followed was equally curious.
While I lay for some time in a drowsy state, the phrase-forming
faculty I have before alluded to seemed to have been set going by the
dream, only that, instead of broken fragments of prose, there ensued
broken snatches of verse, fragments of lines entirely disconnected,
both as to subject and matter.
It would be interesting at this point to search for any parallel to
these intuitive and automatic processes of mind that could be found
in the history of hypnotic experiment. Unfortunately, however, the
last thing hypnotisers ever seem to think of is to encourage the subject
to follow his own intuitions or exercise his own inventive powers, and
from first to last he is made the slave of external suggestion. The only
cases at all resembling the intuitive manifestation of the passive
consciousness I can recall are those of the famous Madame B., whose
secondary self sometimes induced her to take railway journeys, or
write letters ; of the patient described in Animal Magnetism,1 who,
1 Page 199.
Duplex Personality. 95
in a spontaneous attack of hysteria, commanded his own arm to bleed,
▼hereupon soon afterwards the cutaneous haemorrhage was displayed ;
and of others acting under what is called " self-suggestion."
That these were not self-suggestions in the ordinary sense, that is,
that they were not suggestions proceeding from the primary or active
consciousness, and executed by the secondary or passive conscious-
ness, is proved by the fact that as soon as Madame B.'s primary
consciousness was aroused she put a stop to proceedings which it
had never sanctioned. Thus having embarked in a train under the
secondary influence, she left it and returned home as soon as the
primary self resumed its sway.
So also in the other case the suggestion and its execution both
took place while the patient was in the abnormal condition of spon-
taneous hysterical trance.
To sum up : in contrast to our ordinary experience of voluntary
intellectual and ratiocinative activity, which progresses by effort and
gradation, we must recognise the existence in man of a different kind
of consciousness, which I distinguish as "passive," which operates
automatically, instinctively, and sometimes intuitively, and progresses
per mltum and without effort. To the latter kind of consciousness
belongs what is called Genius, in contrast with Talent, which is
exhibited by the former.
I now proceed to consider how far the active and the passive
consciousness are distinguishable in the operations of the faculty of
memory. An ordinary operation of memory consists — as is well known
— in a chain of associated ideas, each idea leading to the next, and that
to the one beyond. Thus the mention of Spain in a geography lesson
provokes the associated ideas of Madrid and Sherry : the occurrence of
the first notes in a tune, or the first words in a poem, provoke the
aasociated idea of those which follow ; if we have an appointment to
keep at noon, the arrival of noon provokes the associated idea of .the
appointment, and so on. Taking this to be the memory belonging to
the active consciousness, I would hazard the conjecture that the passive
consciousness has also a memory peculiar to itself and fundamentally
different from the other : — the first memory consisting of successive
concatenated impressions, the second of a homogeneous pictorial
impression.
According to this view we should expect the secondary memory of
a hypnotised subject to be able to repeat a lesson as well backwards as
forwards, and this is pretty much what is found to be the case in the
1*ery few experiments that have been tried.
In November, 1888, Mr. G. A. Smith kindly consented to make
**ne experiments for me of this nature, and though there was only
Qfttttimity to try them on one subject, the results as far as they v?ei\t>
96 Duplex Personality.
may be claimed in support of this view. After a number of experi-
ments in repeating figures forwards and backwards and adding
them up while in the hypnotic sleep, with remarkable results which
there is no time now to consider, the memory peculiar to the passive
consciousness was further tested with short sentences both during the
sleep and after wakening. — e.g.y Sentence read to the subject " all the
makers named are good." He was then told to write the sentence
backwards with the planchette and being awakened he recollected as
usual nothing about it. He was then set to work with the planchette
while a newspaper was held over it and he was occasionally engaged
in conversation. When the planchette ceased the following curious
result was found to have occurred. When told to write the sentence
backwards, the intention was that the words only should be written
in reverse order, but otherwise in the usual way ; the subject had,
however, understood the command to be that he should spell the
words backwards and turn the letters the wrong way. In order to
read the writing, therefore, it was necessary to hold it to a looking-
glass, and so held it was quite legible. If any person will attempt to
do the same in his ordinary condition he will discover the difficulty of
the performance, which can only be accomplished, if at all, for the first
time, by picturiDg to his own mind the reversed appearance of the
letters and words, and this requires a considerable effort ; but — as I
suggest — the pictorial memory of the passive consciousness succeeded in
doing it without the least hesitation or difficulty. (See also Proceed-
ings, Part XI., pp. 306 and 307, in which a subject of Mr. Gurney's
is reported to have spelt words with a planchette backwards as well as
forwards.)
Another instance of the pictorial or impressional memory is quoted
by Mr. Myers from Dr. Mesnet (Proceedings, Part XI., p. 235). The
subject, a soldier who had received a gunshot wound in the head at
Sedan, leaving extraordinary effects, " was writing on a sheet of paper
which lay on a pile of about ten similar sheets. We quickly drew the top
sheet away, and his pen continued to write on the second sheet." The
automatic nature of the process proves it to have been the work of the
passive consciousness. "This process was repeated, and on the fifth sheet
there was nothing but his signature at the bottom. Nevertheless, he
read over and corrected his letter on this blank fifth sheet, scattering
stops and corrections over the empty page, each of which corresponded
to mistakes made on the co-ordinate points of the pages which had been
snatched away from him." He was, therefore, acting upon a pictorial
memory of what he had written on the preceding sheets.
A similar explanation may be suggested of the memory of drowning
persons who on recovery have repeatedly declared that they saw the
whole of their past lives spread out before them, including every
. Duplex Personality. 97
incident.1 We may suppose that when the active consciousness is
inhibited by suffocation, the pictorial memory of the passive conscious-
ness is sometimes brought into prominence, by which the past life is
presented as on a canvas, so as to form one complete and homogeneous
impression. It is, however, not only in such supreme crises that indica-
tions of the passive memory are to be found.
In counting, for instance, we usually adopt the primary method of
reckoning each unit separately. It sometimes happens, however, that
in listening to a clock striking in the night we may forget to count the
strokes until several have struck, but are nevertheless able to recover
the lost ground by considering them as one impression, conveying the
idea of the correct number to the mind. This is in fact counting by
groups instead of units. I am able to adopt it as far as four, but other
persons have told me that they can go as far as six or eight. I conceive
these groups to be realised by the pictorial memory just as the picture
of four dots on a screen would be recognised as such by the eye without
any conscious process of counting.
Binet (La Vision Mentale) remarks on this subject — as the result
of a long series of elaborate experiments upon the subjects of hysterical
anaesthesia : " Quant a la complexity des operations accomplies par
la conscience secondaire, nous en avons cet exemple, que si on fait un
nombre donne* d'excitations insensibles, c'est souvent la conscience
secondaire qui les compte, et la conscience primaire n'en connait que le
total."
The remainder of Mr. Barkworth's paper deals with analogies
between the phenomena of natural and hypnotic sleep and emotional
stress ; emotional and hypnotic anaesthesia ; hypersthenic muscular
exertion during hypnotic catalepsy, somnambulism or emotional excite-
ment ; delusions due to insanity and to hypnotic suggestion, <fcc. The
apparent submergence of moral discrimination sometimes exhibited in
dreams and in the hypnotic state is also dwelt upon and inferences
drawn from it.
1 Instances of this are too numerous to quote. Sinoe this paper was written I
have seen fresh ones mentioned by Du Prel, &c
98 Notes of Stances with D. D. Home.
VI.
NOTES OF STANCES WITH D. D. HOME.
By William Crookes, F.R.S.
In the year 1874 I published in a collected form various papers,
dating from 1870 to 1874, describing inquiries made by myself,
alone or with other observers, into the phenomena called Spiritual. In a
paper reprinted from the Quarterly Journal of Science, for January,
1874, I announced my intention of publishing a book, which should
contain my numerous printed and imprinted observations.
But this projected work has never seen the light. My excuse, — a
real excuse, though not a complete justification, — lies in the extreme
pressure of other work on my time and energies. The chemical and
physical problems of my professional life have become more and more
absorbing; and, on the other hand, few fresh opportunities have
occurred of prosecuting my researches into " psychic force," I must
confess, indeed, that I have been disappointed with the progress of
investigation into this subject during the last fifteen years. I see little
abatement of the credulity on the one hand and the fraud on the other
which have all along interfered, as I hold, with the recognition of new
truth of profound interest.
The foundation of the SociJfe for Psychical Research has, however,
somewhat altered the situation. We have here a body of inquirers of
whom the more prominent, s6 far as I can judge, are quite sufficiently
critical in their handling of any evidence making for extraordinary
phenomena, while they bring to the task that patience and diligence
without which an investigation of this sort is doomed to failure.
Invited to contribute to the Society for Psychical Research Proceed-
ings, some of my notes on seances with D. D. Home, I feel I ought not
to decline. I am not satisfied with these notes; which form, so to
say, only a few bricks for an intended edifice it is not now probable
I shall ever build. But, at least, they are accurate transcripts of facts
which I still hold to be of deep importance to science. Their publica-
tion will, at any rate, show that I have not changed my mind ; that
on dispassionate review of statements put forth by me nearly twenty
years ago I find nothing to retract or to alter. I have discovered no
flaw in the experiments then made, or in the reasoning I based upon
them.
I am too well aware there have been many exposures of fraud on
the part of mediums ; and that some members of the Society for
J?sjrchical Research have shown the possibility of fraud under circum-
Notes of Stances vrith D. D. Home. 99
stances where Spiritualists had too readily assumed it was not possible.
I am not surprised at the evidence of fraud. I have myself frequently -
detected fraud of various kinds, and I have always made it a rule in
weighing Spiritualistic evidence to assume that fraud may have been
attempted, and ingeniously attempted, either by seen or unseen agents.
I was on my guard even in D. D. Home's case, although I am bound
to say that with him I never detected any trickery or deceit what-
ever, nor heard any first-hand evidence of such from other persons.
At the same time, I should never demand that anyone should con-
sider Home, or any other medium, as " incapable of fraud," nor should
I pin my faith upon any experiment of my own or others which fraud
could explain. The evidence for the genuineness of the phenomena
obtained by Home in my presence seems to me to be strengthened
rather than weakened by the discussions on conjuring, and the ex-
posures of fraud which have since taken place. The object of such
discussions is to transform vague possibilities of illusion and deception
into definite possibilities ; so far as this has yet been done, it has, I
think, been made more clear that certain of Home's phenomena fall
quite outside the category of marvels producible by sleight of hand
or prepared apparatus.
But I must not be supposed to assert that all, or even most of,
the phenomena recorded by me were such as no juggling could simulate.
Many incidents, — as slight movements of the table, <fcc., — were
obviously and easily producible by Home's hands or feet. Such move-
ments, <fcc., I have recorded, — not as in themselves proving anything
strange, — but simply as forming part of a series of phenomena, some
of which do prove, to my mind, the operation of that " new force "
in whose existence I still firmly believe. Had I described these seances
with, a view to sensational effect, I should have omitted all the non-
evidential phenomena, and thus have brought the marvels out in
stronger relief. Such was not my object. In most cases the notes
were written— primarily for my own information,— while the phenomena
were actually going forward, but on some few occasions they were
copied or expanded immediately after the seance from briefer notes
taken at the time. They are here reprinted verbatim ; and the petty
details which render them tedious to read will supply the reader with
all the material now available for detecting the imposture, if any,
which my friends and I at the time were unable to discover. l
My object in publishing these notes will have been attained if they
should aid in inducing competent observers, in this or other countries,
to repeat similar experiments with accurate care, and in a dispassionate
1 The note* here published are accounts of selected seances, but in each ease
selected, the full account of the seance is given.
H.1
100 Notes of Stances: with D. D. Home.
spirit. Most assuredly, so far as my knowledge of science goes, there is
absolutely no reason a priori to deny the possibility of such phenomena
as I have described. Those who assume — as is assumed by some
popular writers — that we are now acquainted with all, or nearly all, or
even with any assignable proportion, of the forces at work in the
universe, show a limitation of conception which ought to be
impossible in an age when the widening of the circle of our definite
knowledge does but reveal the proportionately widening circle of
our blank, absolute, indubitable ignorance.
(I.) Wednesday, May 9th, 1871. — Sitting at 81, South Audley-street,
(Miss Douglas's house). From 9 to 11 p.m.
Present : — Mr. D. D. Home (medium), Miss Douglas, Mrs. Gregory, Mr.
O. R., Mr. W. F., Mrs. W. F., Mr. Crookes.
In the front drawing-room, at a loo table on centre pillar and three
feet, diameter three feet, weight 321b., cloth on (occasionally turned up to
give light below).
One candle on table, two on mantelpiece, one on side table. Towards
end of sitting (during the fire test) the candle on the table and one on
the mantelpiece were put out. The others were alight the whole time. An
accordion was on the table.
A wood fire, somewhat dull, in the grate.
Temperature very comfortable all the evening.
Order of sitting :
M9 0.R.
D.D.HOWUEH ® sk hWKW.F
^nniss.D> ^ M??C>
M*. CROOKES.
A small sofa table stood about two feet from Miss Douglas and Mr.
Home in the position shown in diagram. Miss Douglas commenced by
reading aloud a few extracts from Robert Chambers's introduction to Mr.
Home's book, Incidents of my Life.
Phenomena. — The table tilted several times in four or five directions at
an angle of about 25deg. , and kept inclined sufficiently long for those who
wished to look under with a candle and examine how the hands of Mr. Home
and the others present were touching it. Sometimes it stood on two legs,
and sometimes it was balanced on one. I, who had brought a spring
balance in my pocket, was now invited by Mr. Home to try an experiment
in the alteration of weight.
\
Notes of Stances with D. D. Home. 101
As it would have been inconvenient without disturbing the sitting to
have experimented on the total weight of the table, the balance was
hooked under one edge of the table, and the force required to tilt it
measured.
Experiment 1. — " Be light." An upward pull of 21b. required to lift one
of the feet off the ground, all hands lightly touching the top of the table.
Experiment 2. — "Be heavy." As soon as this was said, the table
creaked, shuddered, and appeared to settle itself firmly into the floor. The
effect was as if the power of a gigantic electro-magnet had been suddenly
turned on, the table constituting the armature. All hands were, as before,
very lightly touching the upper surface of the table with their fingers. A
force of 361b. was now required to raise the foot of the table from the floor/
I lifted it up and down four or five times, and the index of the balance kept
pretty constant at 361b., not varying more than Jib. Whilst this was going
on, each person's hands were noticed. They were touching the table so
lightly that their aggregate downward pressure could not have been many
ounces. Mr. Home once lifted his hands for a moment quite off the table.
His feet were tucked back under his chair the whole time.
Experiments. — " Be light." Conditions the same as before. An upward
pull of 71b. required to tilt the table.
Experiment 4. — "Be heavy." The same creaking noise as in Experiment 2
was again heard. Every person (except Mr. O. R. and myself, who was
standing up trying the experiment) put the ends of the fingers under-
neath the table top, the palms being upwards and the thumbs visible, so that,
if any force were unconsciously exerted, it should tend to diminish the
weight. At the same time Mr. O. R. took a candle and stooped under the
table to see that no one was touching the legs of the table with their knees
or feet. I also stooped down occasionally to verify Mr. O. R. 's statement
that all was fair beneath. Upon applying the spring balance, I saw that
the table was pulled up at 451b. Immediately this was announced I felt
an increase of weight, and, after a few trials, the pull was increased to 481b.,
at which point the index stood steady, the leg of the table being about 3in.
off the floor.
Experiment 5. — "Be heavy." The conditions were the same as before,
a little more care being taken by the sitters to keep their feet well tucked
under their chairs. Hands touching the under side of the table top as before.
The index of the balance rose steadily, without the table moving in the
least, until it pointed to 461b. At this point the table rose an inch, when
the hook of the balance slipped off, and the table returned to its place with
a crash. The iron hook had bent out sufficiently to prevent it holding the
table firmly any longer, so the experiments were obliged to be discontinued.
(After the seance was over, the normal weight of the table was taken. Its
total weight was 321b. In order to tilt it in the manner described in the
experiments a pull of 81b. was required. When lifted straight up at three
equi-distant points, the spring-balance being at one point, a pull of 101b. was
required. The accuracy of the balance could be depended on to about Jib.,
not more.)
Raps were heard from different parts of the table and the floor, and the
table quivered rapidly several times.
102 Notes of Stances with D. D. Home.
Mr. Home appeared slightly convulsed about the arms and body. Sud-
denly he said aloud, " Robert Chambers is hore ; I feel him." Three loud
raps were immediately heard from the small sofa table about two feet behind
Miss Douglas, and this table then slowly glided up to within five inches of
Miss Douglas and Mr. Home. The movement was very steady and noiseless,
and occupied about five seconds in going the distance of 20 inches. When
it stopped, Mr. Home drew attention to the fact that both his feet were under
his chair and all hands were on the table. He moved a little nearer to
Mr. O. R. and turned his legs and feet as far away from the table as he
could, asking the sitters to make themselves quite certain that he could
not have produced the movement of the table. While this was being
noticed, the small table again moved, this time slowly and a quarter of in
inch at a time, until it was again close to Mr. Home and Miss Douglas.
A flower in a glass standing in the centre of the small table was moved,
but not taken out of the glass.
Mr. Home and then Miss Douglas said they felt touched under the
table. The sleeve of Miss Douglas's dress was pulled up and down several
times in full view of all present. Mr. Home said he saw a hand doing iL
No one else saw this ; but Miss Douglas felt a hand, which, however, was in-
visible, put on her wrist immediately after.
Mr. Homo held the accordion under the table by one hand, letting the
keyed end hang downwards. Presently it commenced to sound, and then
played "Ye Banks and Braes," &c., and other airs, and imitated an echo
very beautifully. Whilst it was playing in Mr. Home's hand (his other hand
being quietly on the table) the other gentlemen looked under the table to
see what was going on. I took particular notice that, when the instru-
ment was playing, Mr. Home held it lightly at the end opposite the keys,
that Mr. Home's feet had boots on and were both quiet at some distance
from the instrument, and that, although the keyed end was rising and fall-
ing vigorously and the keys moving as the music required, no hand, strings,
wires, or anything else could be seen touching that end.
Mr. O. R. then held the accordion by the plain end, Mr. Home touching
*f ^t l\m same time. Presently it began to move and then commenced to
play. Mr. Home then moved his liand away and the instrument continued
playing for a short time in Mr. O. R. 's hand, both of Mr. Home's hands
being then above the table.
Some questions were then asked and answers were given by raps and
notes on the accordion. The alphabet being called for by five rape, the
following message was spelled out: — "It is a glorious truth. It was the
solace of my earth life and the triumph over the change called death. Robert
Chambers. "
A private message to Miss Douglas was given in the same manner.
The table was then tilted several times as before, and once rose com-
pletely off the ground to a height of about three inches.
Mr. Home sank back in his chair with his eyes closed and remained still
for a few minutes. He then rose up in a trance and made signs for his
eyes to be blindfolded. This was done. He walked about the room
in an undecided sort of manner, came up to each of the sitters and made
some remark to them. He went to the candle on a side table (close to
Notes cf Stances with D. D. Home. 103
the large table) and passed his fingers backwards and forwards through
the flame several times so slowly that they must have been severely
burnt under ordinary circumstances. He then held his fingers up,
smiled and nodded as if pleased, took up a fine cambric handkerchief
belonging to Miss Douglas, folded it up on his right hand and went to the
fire. Here he threw off the bandage from his eyes and by means of
the tongs lifted a piece of red hot charcoal from the centre and deposited
it on the folded cambric ; bringing it across the room, he told us to
put out the candle which was on the table, knelt down close to Mrs.
W. F, and spoke to her about it in a low voice. Occasionally he fanned
the coal to a white heat with his breath. Coming a little further round
the room, he spoke to Miss Douglas saying, "We shall have to burn a
very small hole in the handkerchief. We have a reason for this which
you do not see." Presently he took the coal back to the fire and handed
the handkerchief to Miss Douglas. A small hole about half an inch in
diameter was burnt in the centre, and there were two small points near
it, but it was not even singed anywhere else. (I took the handkerchief
away with me and on testing it in my laboratory, found that it had not
undergone the slightest chemical preparation which could have rendered it
fire-proof.)
Mr. Home again went to the fire, and after stirring the hot coal about
with his hand, took out a red-hot piece nearly as big as an orange, and put-
ting it on his right hand, covered it over with his left hand so as to almost
completely enclose it, and then blew into the small furnace thus extemporised
until the lump of charcoal was nearly white-hot, and then drew my attention
to the lambent flame which was flickering over the coal and licking round
his fingers ; he fell on his knees, looked up in a reverent manner, held up
the coal in front and said : "Is not God good? Are not His laws won-
derful ? "
Going again to the fire, he took out another hot coal with his hand and
holding it up said to me, " Is not that a beautiful large bit, William ? We
want to bring that to you. Pay no attention at present." The coal, how-
ever, was not brought. Mr. Home said : "The power is going,11 and soon
came back to his chair and woke up.
Mr. O. B. left at 11 o'clock. After this, nothing particular took place.
The following refers to a somewhat similar incident : —
Extract from a letter from Mr. Crookes to Mrs. Honeytoood, describing an inci-
dent at a Seance on April 28th, and incorporated in Mrs. Honey wood's
notes of the Seance.
At Mr. Home's request, whilst he was entranced, I went with him
to the fireplace in the back drawing-room. He said, " We want you to
notice particularly what Dan is doing." Accordingly I stood close to the
fire and stooped down to it when he put his hands in. He very deliberately
pulled the lumps of hot coal off, one at a time, with his right hand and
touched one which was bright red. He then said, " The power is not strong
on Dan's hand, as we have been influencing the handkerchief most. It is
more difficult to influence an inanimate body like that than living flesh, so, as
the circumstances were favourable, we thought we would &taw ^ou Vta»fc» ^^
104 Notes of Stances with D. D. Home.
could prevent a red-hot coal from burning a handkerchief. We will collect
more power on the handkerchief and repeat it before you. Now ! "
Mr. Home then waved the handkerchief about in the air two or three
times, held it up above his head and then folded it up and laid it on his hand
like a cushion : putting his other hand into the fire, took out a large lump of
cinder red-hot at the lower part and placed the red part on the handkerchief.
Under ordinary circumstances it would have been in a blaze. In about half a
minute, he took it off the handkerchief with his hand, saying, " As the power
is not strong, if we leave the coal longer it will burn." He then put it on
his hand and brought it to the table in the front room, where all but myself
had remained seated.
(Signed) William Crooxbs.
(II.) Monday, Mat 22nd, 1871.— Sitting at 81, South Audley-street,
the residence of Miss Douglas. From 9.46 to 11 p.m.
Present: — Mr. D. D. Home (medium), Miss Douglas, Mr. B., Mr.
Alfred Russel Wallace, Mrs. Wm. Crookes, Mr. Wm. Crookes.
In the front drawing-room, at a loo table, supported on centre pillar and
three feet. Lighted with candles the whole of the evening.
Order of sitting : —
D.D.H
Miss.D.t G) S\ rM»?W»C
Wi W* 0^_^M? A.R. W.
The small sofa table, mentioned in the account of the last seance at this
house, was about two feet behind Miss Douglas. An accordion belonging to
me was on the table, and a small candlestick and candle.
Phenomena. — In a few minutes a slight tremor of the table was felt. Mr.
A. R. Wallace was touched. Then Mrs. Crookes felt her knee touched and her
dress pulled. Miss Douglas's dress was pulled, and I was touched on my
right knee as by a heavy hand firmly placed on it.
The tabic tilted up on two and sometimes on one leg several times, rising
at the side opposite each person successively, whilst all who wished took the
candle and examined underneath to see that no one of the party was doing
it with the feet. Granting that Mr. Home might have been able, if he so
desired, to influence mechanically the movement of the table, it is evident
that he could only have clone so in two directions, but here the table moved
successively in six directions.
The table now rose completely off the ground several times, whilst the
gentlemen present took a candle, and kneeling down, deliberately examined
the position of Mr. Home's feet and knees, and saw the three feet of the
table quite off the ground. This was repeated, until each observer e:
himself satisfied that the levitation was not produced by mechanical
on the part of the medium or any one else present.
Notes of Stances with D. D. Home. 105
The alphabet was now called for by five raps. The letters given out were
taken down : —
"We igh— "
Thinking this the commencement of a sentence we tried to get the next
letter, but no response was given. Then we said that some letter had been
given wrong. One thump said emphatically, " No." We then said, " We
have got the first word ' We ' all right, but we want the second word." " Is
i right?" "Yes." "Is fright?" "Yes." "Is h right?" "Yes."
After thinking for a moment it suddenly occurred to us that the word was
* 'Weigh," and that it referred to an experiment I had come prepared to
repeat — that of measuring the variation in weight of the table by means of
a spring balance.
A perfect shower of raps showed that this interpretation was the correct
one.
I accordingly repeated the experiments which were tried at the last
sitting at this house, using a stronger spring balance.
Experiment 1. — "Be light." The table tilted, when the balance showed
a weight of scarcely half a pound.
Experiment 2. — "Be heavy." The table now bore a pull of 201b. before
it tilted up on one side, all hands being placed under the top edge of the
table, thumbs visible.
Experiment 3. — I now asked if the opposing force could be so applied as to
cause the table to rise up off the ground quite horizontally when I was pulling.
Immediately the table rose up completely off the ground, the top keeping
quite horizontal, and the spring balance showing a pull of 231b. During
this experiment Mr. Home's hands were put on the table, the others being
under as at first.
Experiment 4. — "Be heavy." All hands beneath the table top. It
required a pull of 431b. to lift the table from the floor this time.
Experiment 5. — "Be heavy." This time Mr. B. took a lighted candle and
looked under the table to assure himself that the additional weight was not
produced by anyone's feet or otherwise. Whilst he was there observing I
tried with the balance and found that a pull of 271b. was required to lift the
table up. Mr. Home, Mr. A. R. Wallace, and the two ladies had their fingers
fairly under the top of the table, and Mr. B. said that no one was touching
the table beneath to cause the increase of weight.
When these experiments were finished we all sat quietly round the table
for a few minutes, when suddenly the small sofa-table came up to within
about six inches of Miss Douglas. It glided along with a quick, steady
movement. It did not move again after it stopped the first time.
(Just before I sat down to the seance, remembering that this table had
moved up to the-drcle apparently of its own accord the last time we had a
seance here, I pushed the table a little away from its usual place, putting it
just about two feet behind Miss Douglas's chair.
I took notice then that there was no string or anything else attached to it.
After I had so placed it no one else went near it, so that its movement on this
occasion was entirely beyond suspicion.)
Miss Douglas's chair moved partly round. On attempting to re\>la&fe \t» «&
106 Notes of Stances with D. D. Home.
before she said she could not move it, as it was firmly fixed to the floor. I
attempted to pull it along, but it resisted all my efforts.
Mr. Home's chair then moved several times, and tilted up on two legs,
whilst Mr. Home's feet were up in the chair in a semi-kneeling posture, and
his hands before him not touching anything.
The table cloth in front of Mr. Home just at the edge of the table was
bulged outwards as if a hand were beneath it, and we then saw a movement of
the cloth as if fingers were moving under it.
Mr. Home then took the accordion in one hand in his usual manner, and
held it beneath the table. At first chords were sounded, and then a very
beautiful piece with bass and treble was played. Each of the gentlemen m
turn looked at the accordion under the table whilst it was playing.
Mr. A. R. Wallace then asked for " Home, sweet Home." A few ban
of this air were immediately sounded. He looked under the table and said
he saw a hand distinctly moving the instrument up and down, and playing
on the keys. Mr. Home had one hand on the table and was holding the top
end of the accordion, whilst Mr. A. R. Wallace saw this hand at the bottom
end where the keys were.
(III.) Monday, June 19th, 1871.— Sitting at 81, South Audley-street
From 9 to 11 p.m.
Present .—Mr. D. D. Home (medium), Miss Douglas, Mrs. Gregory, Mr*.
Wm. Crookes, Mr. Wm. Crookes, Mr. H.
In the front drawing-room at the small round table three feet in diameter.
Order of sitting, &c. : —
W«C.
M?H0ME/ \llffC.
*\
\ Mlss.DA /KI!H,
7. — Original position of small table.
8. — Position where table (7) was first taken to.
9. — ,, ,, ,, next ,,
10. — Small table behind Mrs. Wm. Crookes.
11. — Position where table (10) was taken to.
Just before sitting down, remembering that the table (7) had been
moved on the last occasion, I went to it and pushed it into the furthest
corner of the room.
After sitting for some little time we had raps, and movements of the
v
Notes of Stances with D. D. Home. 107
table. I asked if I might weigh the table when Mr. Home was not touching
it at all.— " Yes."
Experiment 1. — I thereupon fixed the spring balance to it, and asking
for it to be made heavy tried to lift it off the ground. It required a
pull of 231b. to raise it. During this time Mr. Home was Bitting back in
his chair, his hands quite off the table and his feet touching those on each
side of him.
Experiment 2. — "Be heavy " again. Mr. EL now took a candle, and
stooping down looked under the table to see that no one was touching
it there, whilst I was observing the same at the top. Mr. Home's
hands and feet were the same as before. The balance now showed a tension
of 221b.
Experiment 3 was now tried, Mr. Home being further from the table.
A pull of 171b. was required.
Experiment 4. — When we said " Be light," the table rose at 121b. On
trying afterwards the normal pull required to tilt it, we found it to be
141b.
It was now proposed to put out the candles and sit by the light coming in
from the windows, which was quite sufficient to enable us to see each other,
and the principal articles of furniture in the room.
We presently heard a noise in the back drawing-room as if a man had got
off the couch and was coming to us. Mrs. Wm. Crookes said it came up to her,
and she then felt a pair of large hands on her head, then on her shoulders
and on her back. Her chair was then moved partly round towards Mrs.
Gregory away from Mr. Home.
A noise and crash as of something falling was now heard behind Mrs.
Wm. Crookes's chair, and the small table (10) was pressed up close to her.
Her chair was tilted up till she was jammed between the back of the chair and
the table we were sitting round, and her chair resisted all her efforts to press
it down.
Baps came, and a message to get a light.
On lighting the candle it was seen that the noise had been caused by a
picture which had been on the table resting against the wall, falling down on
to the floor. It was uninjured. The table (10) had been moved up close to
Mrs. Wm. Crookes, between her and Mr. Home.
Mr. Home then took the accordion in his right hand in the usual manner,
and placing his left on the table it was held both by Miss Douglas and Mrs.
Wm. Crookes. The light was then put out, and the following message was
spelt : —
" The Four Seasons. Winter first. "
" Spring.— The Birth of the Flowers."
" Birds in Summer."
The above messages were given whilst the piece was being played. It
would be impossible to give any idea of the beauty of the music, or its
expressive character. During the part typifying summer we had a beautiful
accompaniment, the chirping and singing of the birds being heard along with
the accordion. During autumn, we had " The Last Rose of Summer "
played.
108 Notes of Stances with D. D. Home.
Home said that the spirit playing was a stranger to him. It was a high
and very powerful one, and was a female who had died young.
Mrs. Wm. Crookes said : " Is it my cousin M ? It has flashed into
my mind that it is she."
Answer by raps : ** Yes."
We then heard a rustling noise on a heliotrope which was growing in a
flower-pot standing on the table between Mr. Home and Mrs. Wm. Crookes. On
looking round Mrs. Wm. Crookes saw what appeared to be a luminous cloud
on the plant. (Mr. Home said it was a hand.) We then heard the crackling
as of a sprig being broken off, and then a message came : —
44 Fotir Ellen."
Immediately the white luminous cloud was seen to travel from the helio-
trope to Mrs. Wm. C.'s hand, and a small sprig of the plant was put into it.
She had her hand then patted by a delicate female hand. She could not see
the hand itself, but only a halo of luminous vapour over her hand.
The table (7) was now heard to be moving, and it was seen to glide slowly
up to the side of Miss Douglas, to the position marked (8), about three feet.
Miss Douglas cried out, " Oh ! Oh ! How very curious ! I have had Something
carried round my neck. It is now put into my hand. It is a piece of heath."
A message came : —
" In Memoriam."
Mr. Home said, "Count the number of flowers on the sprig. There is
a meaning in all this." Eleven were counted. (Mr. Robert Chambers had
eleven children.)
The candle (which had been lighted to ascertain this) was again put out.
Mr. Home took the accordion in his right hand, whilst his other hand was
held by Miss Douglas and Mrs. Wm. Crookes. The others present also
joined hands. The accordion played, and we then saw^^omething white
move from the table close to Miss Douglas, pass behind her am Mr. Home,
and come into the circle between him and Mrs. Wm. Crookes. It floated about
for half a minute, keeping a foot above the table. It touched Mrs. Wm.
Crookes, then went round near to the others as if floating about with a cir-
cular movement. It presently settled on the backs of Miss Douglas's, Mr.
Home's, and Mrs. Wm. Crookes's hands, which were grasped together. The
message was given : —
"Light, and look,"
and we then saw that the floating object had been a china, card plate with
cards in it, which had previously been on the table behind Miss Douglas.
The light was again put out, and we then heard a sticking and scraping
along the floor, and then a heavy bump against the door. Very loud raps
were then heard on the table and in other parts of the room. Movements
of the table were felt, and then all was quiet. We lighted the candle and
saw that the small table which had already moved up to Miss Douglas, had
travelled right across the room, a distance of nine feet, and, thumping against
the door, had produced the noise we had all heard.
Nothing else took place after this.
(IV.) Wednesday, June 21st, 1871. — Sitting at 20, Mornington-road
(private residence of Mr. Crookes). From 8.40 to 10.30 p.m.
Notes of Stances with D. D. Home.
109
Present: — Mr. D. D. Home (medium), Mrs.Wr. Crook es, Mr.Wr. Crookes,
Mrs. Humphrey, Mr. C. Gimingham, Mr. Serjt. Cox, Mr. Wm, Crookes,
Mrs. Wm. Crookes, Miss A. Crookes.
In the dining-room lighted by one gas burner. Round the dining table
without a leaf in it.
On the table was an accordion belonging to myself ; a long thin wooden
lath ; a pencil and some paper ; and by the side, partly resting on the table, was
an apparatus for testing alteration in the weight of a body. It consisted of a
A[
1
I
n
]B
mahogany board, AB, 36 inches long, 9 inches wide, and linch thick, supported
at the end B by a spring balance, and resting at C on the flat stand by means
of a wooden fulcrum cut to a knife edge and 3 inches from the end A. D is a
glass bowl of water, standing on the board in such a manner that its weight
partly fell between the fulcrum C and the end B, producing with the weight
of the board a tension of 51b. on the spring balance. E is a hemispherical
copper vessel, perforated at the bottom and firmly supported on a massive
iron stand rising from the floor. E was so arranged that it dipped into water
in D, but was 2 inches from D all round the circumference, and 5£ inches
from the bottom. It was sufficiently firmly supported to prevent any knock-
ing or pushing to which it might be subjected from being communicated to
the glass vessel D and thence to the board and spring balance. I and my
assistant had well tested it in this respect beforehand.1
Under the table was the wire cage described previously,8 and three Groves
cells were in connection with the surrounding wire. A commutator in the
circuit prevented a current circulating till I pressed down a key.
Phenomena. — Almost immediately very strong vibrations of the table were
felt. Answers to questions "Yes" and "No" were given by these
vibrations.
Mr. Home's hands were contracted in a very curious and painful looking
manner. He then got up and gently placed the fingers of his right hand in
the copper vessel E, carefully avoiding coming near any other part of the appa-
ratus. Mrs. Wm. Crookes, who was sitting near the apparatus, saw the end B
of the board gently descend and then rise again. On referring to the automatic
register it showed that an increased tension of 10 ounces had been produced.
Nothing more took place.
1 Compare Quarterly Journal of Science for October, 1871.
* See Quarterly Journal of Science for July, 1871.
110
Notes of Stances with D. D. Home.
(V.) Wednesday, June 21st, 1871. — Sitting at 20, Morningtam-road.
From 10.45 to 11.45. (This stance was held shortly after the previous one.
We all got up, moved about, opened the windows, and changed our positions.
Miss A. Crookes then left, and we proposed sitting down again.)
Present: — Mr. D. D. Home (medium), Mrs. Wr. Crookes, Mr. Wr.
Crookes, Mrs. Humphrey, Mr. C. Gimingham, Mr. Serjt. Cox, Mr. Wm.
Crookes, Mrs. Wm. Crookes.
In the dining-room. The table and apparatus the same as before.
The light was diminished, but there was still light enough to enable us to
distinguish each other plainly and see every movement. The apparatus wis
also distinctly visible.
The automatic register was pushed up close to the index of the balance.
We sat in the following order : —
M?!W*C.
D.D.H,
M??W-C.
M?W!C
M'C.C.
serct c.
MKH.
A was a lath already mentioned.1
Almost immediately a message came, " Hands off." After sitting quiet for
a minute or two, all holding hands, we heard loud raps on the table ; then
on the floor by the weight apparatus. The apparatus was then moved and
the spring balance was heard to move about strongly. We then had the
following message : —
" Weight altered a little. Look."
I then got up and looked at the register. It had descended to 141b. , showing
an additional tension of (14 — 5=) 91b.
As this result had been obtained when there was scarcely light enough to
see the board and index move, I asked for it to be repeated when there was
more light. The gas was turned up and we sat as before. Presently tiki
board was seen to move up and down (Mr. Home being some distance osT
and not touching the table, his hands being held), and the index was seen to
descend to 71b., where the register stopped. This showed a tension of
7— 5=21b.
1 See Seance IV.
Notes of Stances with D. D. Home.
Ill
Mr. Home now told us to alter our position. We now sat as follows : —
MMWfC.
M9?W«C. SERCT C.
M?WfC.
M9C.&
1
M?H0ME
M?W»!»C.
M9?H.
A message was given : —
44 All hands except Dan's off the table."
Mr. Home thereupon moved his chair to the extreme corner of the table
and turned his feet quite away from the apparatus close to Mrs. H. Loud
raps were heard on the table and then on the mahogany board, and the
latter was shaken rather strongly up and down. The following message was
then given : —
" We have now done our utmost."
On going to the spring balance it was seen by the register to have
descended to 91b., showing an increase of tension of (9 — 5=) 41b.
The apparatus was now removed away from the table, and we returned to
our old places (see first diagram).
We sat still for a few minutes, when a message came : —
44 Hands off the table, and all joined."
We therefore sat as directed.
Just in front of Mr. Home and on the table, in about the position shown
at A on the first diagram, was a thin wooden lath 23£ inches long, 1£ inch
wide, and f inch thick, covered with white paper. It was plainly visible to
all, and was one foot from the edge of the table.
Presently the end of this lath, pointing towards Mr. Wr. Crookes, rose up
in the air to the height of about 10 inches. The other end then rose up to a
height of about five inches, and the lath then floated about for more than a
minute in this position, suspended in the air, with no visible means of sup-
port. It moved sideways and waved gently up and down, just like a piece
of wood on the top of small waves of the sea. The lower end then gently
sank till it touched the table and the other end then followed.
Whilst we were all speaking about this wonderful exhibition of force the
lath began to move again, and rising up as it did at first, it waved about in a
somewhat similar manner. The startling novelty of this movement having
now worn off, we were all enabled to follow its motions with more accuracy.
Mr. Home was sitting away from the table at least three feet from the lath
all this time ; he was apparently quite motionless, and \na Yw&ta ^w«t*
112
Notes of Stances with D. D. Home.
tightly grasped, his right by Mrs. Wr. Crookes and his left by Mrs. Win.
Crookes. Any movement by his feet was impossible, as, owing to the luge
cage being under the table, his legs were not able to be put beneath, but was
visible to those on each side of him. All the others had hold of hands. As
soon as this was over the following message was given : —
" We have to go now ; but before going we thank you for your patience.
Mary sends love to aunt, and will play another time."
The seance then broke up at a quarter to twelve.
(VI.) Friday, June 23rd, 1871. Sitting at 20, Mornington-road. From
8.30 to 11 p.m.
Present : — Mr. D. D. Home (medium), Mrs. Wr. Crookes, Mr. Wr.
Crookes, Miss Bird, Serjt. Cox, Mrs. Humphrey, Dr. Bird, Miss A.
Crookes, Mr. Wm. Crookes, Mrs. Wm. Crookes.
In the dining-room ; lighted sometimes by one gas burner, sometimes by
salted spirit lamp, sometimes by light from street.
The dining-table had no flap in it, but was slightly opened in the oenta
(about four inches). On the table were the accordion, a small hand bell,
lath, paper, pencil, phosphorus half under water, and a spirit lamp with a
salted wick.
Order of sitting : —
Miss.B
M?W?C.
SERCT C.
M»!?H.
M*?W?C.
M* HOME
¥C.
D9B. MlSS.A.C. M9WMC.
The cloth was on the table all this time.
At first we sat with one gas burner alight.
After sitting for about 10 minutes the table vibrated strongly, and gave
a definite number of vibrations at our request on two or three occasions. It
felt like a strong, quick shudder passing through it.
Mr. Home now took the accordion in the usual manner and held it under
the table. It was presently sounded and notes played. During this time
Miss Bird and Dr. Bird got under the table and saw the movement Tht
gas was now put out and the spirit lamp lighted. The yellow flame made
everything look very ghastly and quite took the colour out of Mrs. Wnt
Crookes's coral ornaments. She took off her coral necklace , and laid it on tht
table cloth, just over the opening in the table by the spirit lamp. In a short
*
Notes of Stances with D. D. Home. 113
time something poked up the cloth and moved the corals, repeating the
movement two or three times.1
Mr. Home then put the accordion on the floor, and placed both his hands
on the table. In a short time we all heard a movement of the accordion
under the table, and accordingly Mr. Home placed one hand in Mrs.
Wm. Crookes's hands, the other in Mrs. Wr. Crookes's hands, and placed
both his feet beneath my feet. In this manner it was physically impossible
for him to have touched the accordion with hands or feet. The lamp
also gave plenty of light to allow all present seeing any movement on
his part. The accordion now commenced to sound, and then played
several notes and bars. Every one present expressed themselves quite
convinced that this result could not possibly have been effected by Mr.
Home's agency.
Mr. Wr. Crookes now said that the accordion was brought up to his knees
and pressed against them. He put his hand down and took it by the handle.
It then played in his hand, Mr. Home's hands and feet being held by others
as before. Presently Mr. Wr. Crookes said that the accordion had left his
hand (which he then put on to the table). We could hear it moving about
under the table, and then it pressed up against my knees, and on putting my
hand down I felt the handle turned into my hand. I held it for a minute
but it did not play. I then gave it to Mr. Home, and it then played
in his right hand a tune which Serjt. Cox had asked for, "Ye Banks
and Braes," &c.
After this a very beautiful piece of music was played. It was remarked,
" This must be the music of the spheres." A message was given : —
44 This is."
After a little time the music stopped and we turned the light lower, but still
1 Miss Bird writes : —
I remember the circumstances stated in this stance. I had noticed that the
necklace worn by Mrs. Wm. Crookes looked green. I asked her why her beads
were green. She assured me they were her corals, and to convince me the
necklace was passed into my hands. Instead of passing the necklace back I simply
put it opposite me in the middle of the table. Almost as soon as I had placed the
necklace it rose in a spiral shape. I called out eagerly to my brother, Dr. Bird,
to look at the extraordinary conduct of the threaded corals, and whilst I was
endeavouring to get his attention the erect necklace quietly subsided in a coil on the
table. I have often recalled the incident, and although a sceptic by instinct, this one
strange experience has made it impossible for me to doubt the assertions of others
whose judgment is clear and whose uprightness is above suspicion.
October. 1889. Alice L. Bird.
To this Br. Bird adds :—
I recollect my sister calling out to me, " Look, look, at the necklace," but at that
moment my attention was directed elsewhere, and I did not actually see the pheno-
menon in question. Gboroe Bird.
At the moment this occurred I was writing my notes and only caught sight of the
necklace as it was settling down from its first movement. It made one or two slight
movements afterwards, and, as I state, it seemed to me as if it had been moved from
below. I mentioned this at the time and was then told by Miss Bird and others that
the necklace had behaved as is now described by her. Not having seen it myself I
did not alter the statement in my note-book. W. CBOMLia.
114 Notes of Stances with D. D. Home.
keeping enough to enable us to see plainly all that was going on. The music
commenced again strongly, and then Mr. Home brought the accordion orer
the top of the table and held it opposite to Dr. Bird. We then all saw it con-
tracting and expanding vigorously, and heard it emitting sounds, Mr. Home
part of this time supporting the instrument on his little finger tip by menu
of a string I had tied round the handle.
Serjt. Cox held a flower under the table with the request that it
might be taken and given to a lady. It was soon taken from his hand, and
after a considerable time, when the circumstance was almost forgotten,
a white object was laid on the edge of the table, between Miss Bird and
Mr. Wr. Crookes, and she said her dress was pulled very much. As the
object moved about it was seen to be Serjt. Cox's flower. The message
then came : —
" We gave it you. A flower."
Mr. Home then went into a trance, spoke a little to Mrs. Wr. Crookes m
a low tone, and then got up. He walked about the room in an undecided
sort of way, but finally sat down again, saying it all felt confused, and then
woke.
A message was then given : —
"Hands off the table."
We accordingly removed our hands and joined hands all round. In a minute
a slight movement of my note-book was heard, and I could see that a volume
(Incidents in my Life), which was resting on the leaves to keep them down,
was gradually sliding over it in jerks about an eighth of an inch at a time.
The motion was visible to all present and the noise was also plainly heard by
everyone. Nothing more than this took place, and we soon had the
message : —
" We find we have no more power."
The meeting then broke up.
During the latter part of the evening Mrs. Wm. Crookes, who was sitting
near Mr. Home, felt her hands and arm constantly touched and stroked, and
the form of fingers was for some time moving about under the cloth close to
her. These wore felt by myself and Miss A. Crookes, and our hands were
patted by them at our request. Mrs. Wm. Crookes also saw a delicate
finger and thumb playing about a rose in Mr. Home's coat and plucking the
petals one at a time and laying some on the table by her side and giving
others to Mrs. Wr. Crookes. Three times she saw an entire hand rise up
and pass quite over her own hands, which were on the table. It was small,
plump, and delicately shaped, ending at the wrist in a cloud.
At another time luminous appearances were seen on Mr. Home's heed
and before his face. All present saw so much, and Mrs. Wm. Crookes said
they were hands.
(VII.) Sunday, July 16th, 1871.— Sitting at 20, Mornington-road.
Present: — Mr. D. D. Home (medium), Mrs. Wr. Crookes, Mr. Wr.
Crookes, Mrs. Humphrey, Mr. Wm. Crookes, Mrs. Wm. Crookes.
Notes of Stances with D. D. Home.
115
In the following order : —
M9W9C.
MffR
M?*WSC.
M? HOME
12
M?W¥C.
M«W-C.
7—Is a bouquet of flowers which my wife and I had brought from
Brook Green this evening. They had been given to the servant to arrange,
and were brought into the room and put on the table after we had all sat
down and the seance had commenced.
8— Is the part of the crack in the table subsequently referred to.
9— Is the wooden wand. 10 — Is a sheet of note-paper. 11 — Is a
penciL
At the first part of the seance the phonautograph l was on the table in
front of Mr. Home, and I sat or stood at position 12.
On this occasion I asked for the spirits not to rap on the membrane, but
to press on it as in the experiment to make the board light and heavy.
This was accordingly done, and 10 tracings of curves were taken on the
smoked glass : —
No. 1. — Mr. Home's hand on edge of drum.
No. 2. ( Mrs. Wr. Crookes's fingers on edge of drum, and Mr. Home's
No. 3. \ hands touching hers.
No. 4. — Mr. Home's fingers on edge of drum.
No. 5. — Mr. Home's fingers on support not touching the drum.
No. 6. — Mr. Home's fingers touching the membrane. On looking at this
I remarked that this curve might have been produced by pressure of the
fingers. The message was then given : —
44 Hands off table."
No. 7. — Mr. Home's hands on the table, no one else touching it.
No. 8. — Mr. Home's hand held over the parchment, fingers pointing
downwards quite still.
No. 9. — The same as No. 8.
No. 10. — Mr. Home's fingers touching stand ; not touching the drum or
parchment.
After taking these tracings the phonautograph was removed, and we sat
down quietly in the positions shown on diagram. The room was sufficiently
1 For a description of the phonautograph see Quarterly Journal of Science for
Octobw, 1871.
1 %
116 Notes of Stances with D. D. Home.
lighted by means of two spirit lamps with soda flames placed on the top of
the gaselier.
After a few minutes the wooden wand moved a little on the table, gently
sliding along. It then raised itself up at one end and then fell down again.
Next it lifted up sideways and turned half over. It continued moving about
in this manner for several minutes. Mr. Home said he saw a hand over the
lath moving it about. No one else saw the hand.
The flowers in the bouquet were moved and rustled about several times.
A message was then given, the answers being sometimes given by raps
on the table and sometimes by the wand rising up and striking the table
three times in rapid succession : —
"A prayer."
Mr. Home took the accordion in the usual manner and we then were
favoured with the most beautiful piece of music I ever heard. It was very
solemn and was executed perfectly : the "fingering" of the notes wai
finer than anything I could imagine. During this piece, which lasted for
about 10 minutes, we heard a man's rich voice1 accompanying it in one corner
of the room, and a bird whistling and chirping.
Mr. Home then held his hand over the bouquet and shook it (his hand)
with a rapid quivering movement.
I asked if the pencil would be taken and a word written on the paper
before our eyes. The pencil was moved and lifted up two or three times, but
it fell down again. The lath moved up to the pencil and seemed trying to
help it, but it was of no use.
A message was given : —
" It is impossible for matter to pass through matter ; but we will show
you what we can do."
We waited in silence. Presently Mrs. Wm. Crookes said she saw a
luminous appearance over the bouquet. Mr. Wr. Crookes said he saw the
same, and Mr. Home said he saw a hand moving about.
A piece of ornamental grass about 15 inches long here moved out of the
bouquet, and was seen to slowly disappear just in front at the position (8) on
the plan, as if it were passing through the table.
Immediately after it had disappeared through the table Mrs. Win. Crookes
saw a hand appear from beneath the table, between her and Mr. Home,
holding the piece of grass. It brought it up to her shoulder, tapped it against
her two or three times with a noise audible to all, and then took the grasi
down on to the floor, where the hand disappeared. Only Mrs. Wm. Crocket
and Mr. Home saw the hand ; but we all saw the movements of the piece of
grass, which were as I have described.
It was then told us that the grass had been passed through the division in
the table. On measuring the diameter of this division I found it to be barely
1th inch, and the piece of grass was far too thick to enable me to force it
1 See incident on p. 122.
Notes of Stances with D. D. Home. 117
through without injuring it. Yet it passed through the chink very quietly
and smoothly and did not show the least signs of pressure.
The message was then given by notes on the accordion : —
4 * God bless you. Good night. "
A parting tune was then played on the accordion, and the seance then
broke up at half -past 11.
(Yin.) Sunday, July 30th, 1871. Sitting at 20, Momington-road.
Present: — Mr. D. D. Home, Mr. Wm. Crookes, Mrs. Win. Crookes,
Mrs. Humphrey, Mr. Wr. Crookes, Mrs. Wr. Crookes, Mrs. I., Miss A.
Crookes, Mr. H. Crookes, Mr. T., and at 11 p.m. Lord A.
In the dining-room round the dining-table.
During the former part of the evening the gas was lighted ; during the
latter part the room was illuminated by two spirit lamps.
The first experiment tried was the alteration of the weight of the board
by means of the improved apparatus', by which the movements are registered
on smoked glass. In order to meet Mr. G. 's objection the short end of
the board was firmly supported on a foot (A) in such a manner that no amount
B
k\ U
of pressure of the hands at (B) produced any appreciable movement of the
long end. The adjustments were made and well tested by myself before Mr.
Home entered the room.
I took Mr. Home's two hands and placed them myself in the proper
position on the board, the tips of his fingers being (at B) just half-way from
the extremity to the fulcrum. Mrs. Wm. Crookes,, who was sitting next to
Mr. Home, and by the side of the apparatus, watched his hands the whole
time, and I also watched him whilst the plate of glass was moving. Six plates
were tried and good results obtained. The experiments were not tried
directly one after the other, but when all was ready Mr. Home generally
told me when to set the clock going, saying that he felt an influence on the
mttrument or that he saw a spirit standing near. On one or two occasions
loud raps were heard on the board, and the signal to set the clock going was
given at my request by three raps. The board sometimes swayed sideways
as well as vertically.
During the progress of one of these experiments the chair in which I
had been sitting, which was standing near the apparatus, was seen to move
op close to the table.
The register of the index showed a maximum pull of 21b.
118
Notes of Stances with D. D. Home.
The apparatus was removed, and we took our seats round the table in the
following positions : —
WM.
MIW9C.
M*H.C.
MlSS.A.C.
M9?H.
M«fW9C.
MID.D.HHE.
HV9W9C.
M»W«C. M*T.
L9A.
(WIIN II
CAME AT
ILP.Y.)
Baps occurred in different parts of the table when I placed my hands
there. Raps were then given on the wooden lath when Mr. Home had
hold of one end.
The accordion was held by Mr. Home in the usual position under the
table. Whilst it played Mrs. I. looked beneath and saw it playing. Mr.
Home removed his hand altogether from it, and held both hands above the
table. During this Mrs. I. said she saw a luminous hand playing the
accordion.
The gas was now turned out, and three spirit lamps were lighted.
Loud raps were heard, and the planchette moved across a sheet of paper,
leaving a mark with the pencil.
The lath moved some inches.
The accordion, which had been left by Mr. Home under the table, now
began to play and move about without anyone touching it. It dropped
on to my foot, then dragged itself away, playing all the time, and went to
Mrs. I. It got on to her knees.
Mr. Home then took it in his hand, where it played, and delivered the
following message by chords in the usual way : —
" Our joy and thankfulness to have been allowed to make our presence
manifest. Wo thank you for your patience and we thank GOD for His
love."
Mr. Home got up and stood behind in full view of all, holding the
accordion out at arm's length. We all saw it expanding and contracting and
hoard it playing a melody. Mr. Home then let go of the accordion, which
went behind his back and there continued to play ; his feet being visible
and also his two hands, which were in front of him.
Notes of Stances with D. D. Home. 119
Mr. Home then walked to the open space in the room between Mrs. I.'s
chair and the sideboard and stood there quite upright and quiet. He then
said, "I'm rising, I'm rising" ; when we all saw him rise from the ground
slowly to a height of about six inches, remain there for about 10 seconds, and
then slowly descend. From my position I could not see his feet, but I
distinctly saw his head, projected against the opposite wall, rise up, and Mr.
Wr. Crookes, who was sitting near where Mr. Home was, said that his feet
were in the air. There was no stool or other thing near which could have
aided him. Moreover, the movement was a smooth continuous glide upwards.
Whilst this was going on we heard the accordion fall heavily to the
ground. It had been suspended in the air behind the chair where Mr. Home
had been sitting. When it fell Mr. Home was about 10ft. from it.
Mr. Home still standing behind Mrs. I. and Mr. Wr. Crookes, the
accordion was both seen and heard to move about behind him without his
hands touching it. It then played a tune without contact and floating in the
air.
Mr. Home then took the accordion in one hand and held it out so that we
could all see it (he was still standing up behind Mrs. I. and Mr. Wr. Crookes).
We then saw the accordion expand and contract and heard a tune played.
Mrs. Wm. Crookes and Mr. Home saw a light on the lower part of the
accordion, where the keys were, and we then heard and saw the keys
clicked and depressed one after the other fairly and deliberately, as if to
show us that the power doing it, although invisible (or nearly so) to us, had
full control over the instrument.
A beautiful tune was then played whilst Mr. Home was standing up
holding the accordion out in full view of everyone.
Mr. Home then came round behind me and telling me to hold my left
arm out placed the accordion under my arm, the keys hanging down and the
upper part pressing upwards against my upper arm. He then left go and the
accordion remained there. He then placed his two hands one on each of my
shoulders. In this position, no one touching the accordion but myself, and
every one noticing what was taking place, the instrument played notes but
no tune.
Mr. Home then sat down in his chair, and we were told by raps to open
the table about an inch or an inch and a-half.
Mr. T. touched the point of the lath, when raps immediately came on it.
The planchette, which was on the table resting on a sheet of paper, now
moved a few inches.
Sounds were heard on the accordion, which was on the floor, not held by
Mr. Home.
The corner of the paper next to Mrs. Wm. Crookes (on which the plan-
chette was standing) moved up and down. (These three last phenomena were
going on simultaneously.)
I felt something touch my knee; it then went to Mrs. I., then to Miss
A. Crookes.
Whilst this was going on I held the bell under the table, and it was taken
from me and rung round beneath. It was then given to Mrs. I. by a hand
which she described as soft and warm.
The lath was now seen to move about a little.
120 Notes of SAinces with D. D. Home.
Mrs. Wm. Crookes saw a hand and fingers touching the flower in Mr.
Home's button-hole. The flower was then taken by the hand and given to
Mrs. I. and the green leaf was in a similar manner given to Mr. T.
Mrs. Wm. Crookes and Mr. Home saw the hand doing this, the others
only saw the flower and leaf moving through the air.
Mrs. Wm. Crookes held a rose below the table ; it was touched and then
taken.
The sound as of a drum was heard on the accordion.
The lath lifted itself up on its edge, then reared itself upon one end andfell
down. It then floated up four inches above the table, and moved quite
round the circle, pointing to Mrs. Win. Crookes. It then rose up and passed
over our heads outside the circle.
The planchette moved about a good deal, marking the paper.
The cloth was dragged along the table.
Whilst the lath was moving round the circle, the accordion played a tune
in Mr. Home's hand whilst Mrs. Wm. Crookes's hand was also on it.
Mrs. Wm. Crookes put her hand near the lath, when it came up to
it, and moved about it very much.
The paper on which the planchette was resting moved about us as if by a
hand. Many present saw a hand doing it. (Mr. Home and Mrs. Wm.
Crookes saw this hand.)
Mr. H. Crookes saw a luminous hand come up between Mr. Home and
Mrs. Wm. Crookes.
Some time during the evening Mrs. Wm. Crookes's handkerchief, which
had been in her pocket, was taken out of it by a hand.
I saw something white moving about in the further corner of the room
(diagonal to door) under a chair. On my remarking this, a message was
given by raps : —
"William! take it."
On getting up and taking it I saw that it was my wife's pocket handker-
chief tied in a knot, and having the stalk of the rose which had been taken
from her tied up in it. The place where I picked up the handkerchief
was fifteen feet from where she had been sitting.
A glass water bottle which was on the table now floated up and rapped
against the planchette.
Mr. Home said : " I see a face. I see Philip's face. Philip ! Brother ! w
The water and tumbler now rose up together, and we had answers to
questions by their tapping together whilst floating in the air about eight
inches above the table, and moving backwards and forwards from one to the
other of the circle.
Mr. H. Crookes said a hand was tickling his knee.
A finger was protruded up the opening of the table between Miss A.
Crookes and the water bottle.
Miss A. Crookes, Mr. H. Crookes, and Mrs. I. were then touched.
Fingers came up the opening of the table a second time and waved about
The lath, which on its last excursion had settled in front of the further
window, quite away from the circle, now moved along the floor four or five
times very noisily. It then came up to Mr. T., and passed into the circle
Notes of Siances with D. D. Home.
121
over his shoulder. It settled on the table and then rose up again, pointing
to Mrs. Wm. Crookes's mouth.
The lath then went to the water bottle and pushed it several times nearly
over, to move it away from the opening in the table. The lath then went
endways down the opening.
The tumbler moved about a little.
The lath moved up through the opening in the table and answered "Yes"
and " No " to questions, by bobbing up and down three times or once.
A hand was seen by some, and a luminous cloud by others, pulling the
flowers about which were in a stand on the table. A flower was then seen to
be carried deliberately and given to Mrs. Wr. Crookes.
Another flower was taken by the hand and brought over to Mrs. Wm.
Crookes ; it was dropped between her and Mr. Home.
Raps then said : —
"We must go."
The raps then commenced loudly all over the room and got fainter and
fainter until they became inaudible.
The seance then broke up.
(IX.) Saturday, November 25th, 1871. — Sitting at 20, Mornington-
road. From 9.15 p.m. to 11.30 p.m.
Present:— Mr. D. D. Home (medium), Mrs. Home, Miss Douglas, Mrs.
Humphrey, Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Crookes, Mrs. Wr. Crookes, Miss Crookes,
Mr. C. Gimingham.
In the dining-room round the dining- table ; no leaf in.
M? C!C.
M??H0ME
MISS.A.C.
MlSS.D.
M9?W!C.
M9D.0.HOME
Nff*W.¥Ck
M?5H.
M?W¥C,
On the table were two glass troughs of flowers ; accordion ; paper ; plan-
chette ; some marked pieces of paper ; pencils ; handbell ; spirit lamps ;
matches, &c. A cloth was on. The lath was on the table.
There was a good fire in the room, which, however, got low towards the
end of the sitting, and a gas light was burning during the greater part of the
time. When that was put out there was still light enough in the room from
the fire and the street to enable us to distinguish each other, and see the
objects on the table.
122 Notes of Stances with D. D. Home.
We had scarcely sat down a minute when raps were heard from different
parte of the table ; a strong vibration of our chairs and the table was felt,
and sounds like thumps on the floor were heard. A curious metallic tapping
sound was heard on the iron screw of the table.
A message : — "Selfish" in reply to a remark I made.
A rustling was heard on the table, and one of the glass flower troughs was
seen to move along by jerks, till it had travelled about two inches and had
got a little on to a large sheet of paper. This movement continued whilst all
were watching it. Mr. Home's hands were quiet in front of him.
The wooden lath was then seen to slide an inch or so backwards and
forwards.
Mr. Home took the accordion in the usual manner, holding it under the
table. It immediately began to sound. Mr. Home then brought it from
under the table (he said it appeared to move of its own accord, dragging his
hand after it), playing all the time, and at last held it hanging down at the
back of his chair in a very constrained attitude, his feet being under the
table and his other hand on the table. In this position the instrument
played chords and separate notes, but not any definite tune. The sounds on
it became louder and the table began to vibrate ; this got stronger and
stronger until the noise of the accordion playing simple chords was very
great, whilst the table actually jumped up and down keeping accurate time
with the music. This became so violent that it might have been heard all
over the house. It ceased suddenly and in a minute recommenced.
Miss Douglas said : " Dear spirits, how pleased you would have been
had you lived to witness the progress Spiritualism is now making." Imme-
diately a message was given in reply : —
44 We are not dead!"
Mr. Home brought the accordion back to under the table, when it sounded
notes again. There was a sound as of a man's bass voice1 accompanying it.
On mentioning this, one note, "No," was given, and the musical bar re-
peated several times slowly, till we found out that it was caused by a peculiar
discord played on a bass note. On finding this out the instrument burst out
with its usual jubilant bar.
Miss Douglas saying that she felt touched, I asked if we might get some
direct writing. Two raps were given. I asked Miss Douglas to put the
marked sheets of paper and pencil under the table by her feet, and requested
that something might bo written on it.
Three raps.
The power now seemed to go to the lath ; it was lifted up several times
at alternate ends to a height of several inches and then floated quite above
the table.
The planchette moved irregularly along the paper, making a mark with
the pencil.
Some of those who were present said they saw a luminous hand touching
the paper. I saw the paper raised up at the side away from Mr. Home.
I felt touched strongly on the knee by something feeling like fingers. On
1 See incident on p. 116.
Notes of S&mces with D. D. Home. 123
putting my hand down a sheet of paper was put into it. I said, "Is any-
thing written on it ? "
"Yea,"
It being too dark to see what was written, I asked that it might be
told me by raps, and on repeating the alphabet I got the following : —
* ' Rctojdourdanie. ' '
On striking a light the following was seen neatly written : —
R. C. to J. D.
Our Daniel.
Miss Douglas said the B. C. was Robert Chambers, whilst J. D. were the
initials of her own name.
As the paper was a sheet I had marked and it was free from any writing
when put under the table, whilst no one had moved from the table in the
meantime, this was as striking a manifestation as I had ever seen.
Mrs. Home, who for some time past had said a hand was holding her hand,
now said that the hand was under her dress. Each of us in turn went round
and felt it. To me it felt very small and I could not distinguish any form
which I could be certain was a hand. Mrs. Wm. Crookes, who went next,
said it was at first very small but it seemed to grow large as she felt it until
it was exactly like a large hand, the knuckles and fingers being very distinct.
The hand remained with Mrs. Home for half an hour at least. On asking for
the name of the hand which had held hers, the name
"Alexandrine "
was spelt out.
A sound like the snapping of fingers was heard. On speaking of this it
was repeated at our request in different parts of the room.
The wooden lath which was lying just in front of me appeared to move
slightly, whereupon I leaned forward and watched it intently. It rose up
about half an inch, then sank down, and afterwards turned up on one end
till it was upright, and then descended on the other side till it touched one
of Mr. Home's hands. One end remained all the time on the table whilst
the other end described a semicircle. The movement was very deliberate.
The lath then moved away from Mr. Home's hands and laid itself across the
planchotte. Both it and the planchette moved slightly. The lath then moved
off and stood quite upright on the table. It then slowly descended.
The accordion, which had been for some time quiet under the table, now
was heard to sound and move about. Presently Miss Douglas felt it come
to her and push against her knees.
The window curtains at the end of the room furthest from the door, and
seven feet from where Mr. Home was sitting, were seen to move about.
They opened in the centre for a space of about a foot, exactly as if a man had
divided them with his hands. Mr. Home said he saw a dark form standing
in front of the window moving the curtains, and Mrs. Wm. Crookes and
Mr. C. Gimingham also said they saw a shadow of a form. The form was
then seen to go behind one curtain and move it outwards into the room for
a distance of about 18 inches. This was repeated several times.
The wooden lath now rose from the table and rested one end on my
knuckles, the other end being on the table. It then rose up and t&^od tm&
124
Notes of Stances with D. D. Home.
several times. Questions which I put were answered " Tea " or " No," in
this manner. I said, "Do you know the Morse alphabet?" "Yea."
" Could you give me a message by it ? " " Tea." As soon as this was
rapped out the lath commenced rapping my knuckles in long and short taps,
in a manner exactly resembling a " Morse " message. My knowledge of the
code and of reading by sound is not sufficient to enable me to say positively
that it was a message ; but it sounded exactly like one; the long and short
taps and the pauses were exactly similar, and Mr. C. Gimingham, who has
had practice with the Morse code, feels almost certain that it was so.
Afterwards at my request the Morse alphabet was given distinctly by taps
on the table. During this time Mrs. Wm. Crookes was standing on the other
side of the table by Mrs. Home. Her chair between me and Mr. Home
was empty and I could see Mr. Home's hands resting quietly on the table
in front of him.
Mr. Home went into a trance, and addressed several of us in turn*
The seance ended at about 11.30 p.m.
(X.) Tuesday, April 16th, 1872.— Sitting at 20, Momington-roacL
From 8.50 p.m.
Present: — Mr. D. D. Home (medium), Mr. Serjt. Cox, Mr. and Mrs.
Wm. Crookes, Mr. and Mrs. Wr. Crookes, Mrs. Humphrey, Mr. F. G., in
the following order : —
M9-C.
M?W?C.
SERCTC.
M«??H.
M99WSC.
M9D.D.H0IE,
M«fWVC.
M? W¥ C.
On the table were flowers, an accordion, a lath, a bell, paper, and
pencils.
Phenomena.— Creaks were heard, followed by a trembling of the table
and chairs.
The table gently moved from Mr. Wr. Crookes to Mr. Home.
Raps were heard on different parts of the table.
Mr. F. G. was under the table when the movements were going on.
There was vibration and knocks on the floor. The table moved six inches
from Mr. F. G. to me ; and there was a strong trembling of the table.
A shower of loud ticks by Mr. F. G. was heard, and thumps as of a foot
on the floor.
The table trembled twice at Mr. F. G.'s request ; then twice and a third
tune after an interval. This was done several times.
Notes of Stances with D. D. Home. 125
The table became light and heavy, Mr. F. G. tested it, and there was
no mistake.
There were strong movements of the table when Mr. F. G. was under it.
Mr. Home's chair moved back six inches.
The accordion was taken by Mr. Home in the usual manner and sounded.
Mr. F. G. looked under, whilst it was expanding and contracting.
We were speaking of the music, when a message was given : —
" It comes from the heart. A hymn of praise."
After which beautiful sacred music was played.
The bell was taken from Mrs. Wm. Crookes, and tinkled under the table
for some time. It was thrown down close to Mr. F. G., who took it.
The accordion laid down under the table by Serjt. Cox and played a few
notes, when all hands were on the table. Mrs. Wm. Crookes put her feet on
Mr. Home's. A big hand pushed Mrs. Wm. Crookes 's feet away. The
accordion played and then pushed into Mr. F. G.'s hand. Mr. F. G. held it
for some time, but there was no sound, and it was given to Mr. Home.
Mrs. Wr. Crookes's dress was pulled round, while Mr. F. G. was looking
on. Mrs. Wr. Crookes put her feet touching Mr. F. G.'s.
The accordion played in Mr. Home's hands. He said he felt a touch, on
which there were five raps, and a message came :—
" We did."
" The Last Rose of Summer " was played exquisitely. Mr. Home then put
the accordion down. There was quietness for a minute, followed by move-
ments of the table, and a message was given : —
41 We have no more power."
(XL) Sunday, April 21st, 1872. — Sitting at 24, Motcombe-street. The
residence of my brother, Mr. Walter Crookes.
Present: — Mr. D. D. Home (medium), Mrs. Douglas, Capt. C, Mr. and
Mrs. Wm. Crookes, Mr. and Mrs. Wr. Crookes.
In the drawing-room, round the centre table.
M* W* C.
CAPTC
IRfWfG;
MQD.D.HOME.
»D.
Phenomena : — Strong vibrations of the cabinet behind Mr. Horns \ coa-
126 Notes of Stances with D. D. Home.
tinuous raps on the table : very strong vibrations of the cabinet. Then a
long silence. Mr. Home went to the piano.
On his return the vibrations recommenced ; then there were powerful
raps on the table in front of me.
There were thumps on the table and then on the floor.
I was touched on the knee.
I was touched again on the knee. The table then rattled about so
violently that I could not write.
Mr. Home took the accordion in the usual manner. It played a tune.
Mrs. Douglas's handkerchief was taken from her lap by a hand visible to
her and Mr. Home, the accordion playing beautifully all the time. A
message was given : —
44 Try less light"
The handkerchief moved about along the floor, visible to all.
Mr. Home nearly disappeared under the table in a curious attitude, then
he was (still in his chair) wheeled out from under the table still in the same
attitude, his feet out in front off the ground. He was then sitting almost
horizontally, his shoulders resting on his chair.
He asked Mrs. Wr. Crookes to remove the chair from under him as it
was not supporting him. He was then seen to be sitting in the air sup-
ported by nothing visible.
Then Mr. Home rested the extreme top of his head on a chair, and his
feet on the sofa. He said he felt supported in the middle very comfortably.
The chair then moved away of its own accord, and Mr. Home rested flat over
the floor behind Mrs. Wr. Crookes.
A stool then moved up from behind Mrs. Wr. Crookes to between her
and Mr. Home.
Mr. Home then got up, and after walking about the room went to a large
glass screen and brought it close up to me, and opened it out thus :—
Mr. Home then put his hands on the screen, and we had raps on the
glass. (The gas was turned brightly up during these experiments.)
Notes of Stances with D. D. Home.
127
Then Mr. Home put his hand on one leaf of the screen, and I put my
hand where I chose on the other leaf. Haps came from under my hand.
The screen was then put thus : —
Mr. Home stood behind the screen and had the gas light shining full on
him. He rested his two hands lightly on the top of the centre leaf of the
screen. In this position we had the table cloth moved, raps on the table in
front of the screen, and raps on the glass leaves (either one at request). A
lady's dress was pulled, and the chairs were shaken.
The screen was then folded up and laid horizontally on two chairs, so as
to form a glass table. Mr. Home sat at one side and I sat at the other side,
by ourselves. The light was very good, and the whole of his legs and feet
were easily seen through the screen.
Many experiments were then tried on this glass table. Raps came from
it at my request where I desired. It was vibrated ; and once raps came when
Mr. Home was not touching it.
The light was then lowered and the screen put aside.
The cushion from the sofa floated off it and came between Mr. Home and
Mrs. Wr. Crookes.
Mr. Home took the accordion, and it played " Auld Lang Syne."
Someone was seen standing behind Mrs. Wra. Crookes.
Mrs. Wm. Crookes had severe pain in her head. Mr. Home came behind
her and mesmerised her, and the pain went.
A message came to Mrs. Wr. Crookes.
Nothing more took place after this.
128 Experiments in Tliougkt-Tran&ference.
VIL
EXPERIMENTS IN THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE,
By Professor and Mrs. H. Sidgwick, and Mr. G. A. Smith.
The experiments in thought-transference about to be described have
been carried out with four different percipients while in the hypnotic
trance, Mr. Smith, who hypnotised them, being the agent. The
experiments were usually directed and arranged by Mrs. Sidgwick, who
also took the notes which form the basis of the present paper. On two
or three occasions, however, she was absent and her place was taken
by Professor Sidgwick, who was also present on most other occasions
in July and August.
Most of the experiments were in the transference of numbers of
two digits, Mr. Smith looking at the numbers and the percipient
guessing them. The number of experiments of this nature tried with
Mr. Smith in the same room as the percipient was 644, of which
131 were successes ; and the number tried with Mr. Smith in another
room was 228, of which only 9 were successes. In these numbers an
experiment in which two percipients were at work -at the same time is
counted as two. By a success we mean that both digits are correctly
given, but not necessarily placed in the right order. Of the 131
successes with Mr. Smith in the same room the digits were reversed in
14 ; and of the 9 successes with Mr. Smith in a different room the digits
were reversed in 1. We had no numbers above 90 among those we
used. If the percipients had been aware of this the probability of their
guessing the right digits in the right order in one trial by pure chance
would have been 1 to 81, and the probability of their guessing the right
digits in any order half that. But, as at different times they guessed
all the numbers between 90 and 100, we believe that they were not aware
that our series stopped at 90, in which case their chance of being right
in a single guess was 1 to 90. No one will suppose therefore that 117
complete successes in 664 guesses was the result of chance. Good days
and bad days alike are included in the numbers given, though, as will
be seen in the sequel, on some days no success at all was obtained. It
was clear that the power of divining the numbers was exceedingly vari-
able, but whether the difference was in the agent or the percipient or on
what circumstances it depended we have so far been unable to discover.
Eight persons, at least, besides Mr. Smith, tried to act as agents,
but either failed to hypnotise the percipients, or to transfer any impres-
Experiments in Thought-Tmnsference.
129
sion. Nor did others succeed in transferring impressions when the
hypnotic state had been induced by Mr. Smith. Mr. Smith himself
did not succeed except when the percipients were hypnotised.
We shall give in full the account, written at the time, of the first
day's experiments with each of the percipients — not because these
experiments are the most conclusive, or were carried out under the best
conditions, but because they give perhaps more insight than others
into the impressions of the percipients, who were more lively and .
interested in the matter while it was new to them. We do not profess
to give every remark made ; Mrs. Sidgwick had not time to take down
all that was said, but she believes that she recorded all that was
important.
The first subject with whom any success was obtained was a Mr.
W., a clerk in a shop, aged probably about twenty-one or twenty-
two. Mr. Smith had hypnotised him on three previous occasions,
twice in public, and once in private, but had not tried thought-
transference experiments with him before. The last occasion on
which he had been hypnotised was on June 13th, 1889, on which
occasion we had tried experiments of a different kind with him.
He is a very sensitive hypnotic subject, but to all appearance
a normal and healthy young man, somewhat athletic. Between June
13th and July 4th thought-transference was attempted with several
subjects in vain. On July 4th Mr. W. came to Mr. Smith's house
again, and after some other experiments, it was for the first time
tried with him. First we tried him in guessing colours, pieces of
coloured paper gummed on to cards being used. Mr. W.'s eyes were
apparently closed ; Mr. Smith sat in front of him, facing him and
holding the card up with its back to him. We feel practically certain
that Mr. W. could not see the colour normally. After each guess Mr.
Smith said, " Now we'll do another," whether the colour was changed
or not.
The following series was obtained : —
REAL COLOUR.
Orange
OftiHv ••• ••• ••• • • •
Oulilv ••• •»» ••• • • •
Same colour, but another shape.
Emerald Green
Black
Rod
AJa Uv ••• • • • •»• •••
Orange
Brown
»»
MR. W.'S GUESSES AND REMARKS.
" Red."
"Red."
"Red, they're all red."
44 The same."
" Pretty nearly the same.'
" Same colour — red."
* * Same. They're all alike. '
" That one's different — a kind of
blue."
"About the same red colour as
you had before."
" You had that colour just now —
that blue."
»*
130
Experiments in ThoughJt'Tra/nsference.
REAL COLOUR.
^^lCv\/ IV • • • • • •
Emerald Green
xCed ... ...
Yellow
i • • • • i
MR, W.'S GUESSES AKD REMARKS.
" Same as last— blue."
" Haven't seen that one before —
sort of green."
" An old colour— one of those red
ones."
"Bluified."
Up to the seventh attempt it appeared as though he were simply
describing the red ' light through his closed eyelids, but after that
there seemed to be some success, and we were encouraged to try
further. We determined to try numbers. Mr. Smith sat in the same
position as before and Mrs. Sidgwick wrote numbers on cards and
handed them to him.
NUMBER LOOKED AT.
7
4
3
MR. W.'S GUESSES AND REMARKS.
"6"
"4"
"9"
At this point Mr. W. was told that there would be two figures
and the numbers belonging to a " sixty n puzzle were used, and drawn
at random so as to avoid bias.
15
24
11
20
" 16 "
"24"
" That's got only one figure, 1."
" 20 "
Mr. Smith now moved to a place behind Mr.W.'s chair, and for still
further precaution against the possibility of Mr. W. seeing anything,
the number was — after the first minute or two of the first experiment
that follows (which took a long time) — placed in a match-box held in
the palm of Mr. Smith's hand. We give remarks made by Mr. Smith
as well as Mr. W.
7 S. : " Do you see this
figure?"
16
23
W. : "I hardly see it" " It's not
one figure I can see." "It
looks like 6."
" 16 "
" 18 "
Aiter this numbers taken out of a pile of them written on scraps
of card were used.
24
37 S. : " Do you see this ? "
S. : "Yes. Do you see
any more ? "
32 S. : " Now then, Mr. W.,
here's another one."
S. : " Here it is."
«<
24"
W.
"Where!" (Pause.) "I see
him now — a 3."
W. : " No.
»>
W. : "Where?"
W. dropped off into a deeper state.
Experiments in Thaugkt-Tramference.
131
MR. W.'S GUESSES AND REMARKS.
W. : "12, isn't it?"
W. : "The 2, 1 think."
W. : "I can't see." (Pause.)
think it's a 3."
NUMBER LOOKED AT.
S. : "Mr. W., don't go to
sleep" (roused him).
S. : " Which figure looks
most distinct ? "
S. : " Yes. Then look
again at the other.
Are you sure it's a 1 ? "
S. : " Well, then, what's
the number ? " W. : " Why, it's 82."
Then after a moment or two he suddenly awoke of himself. It was
interesting to watch the gesture and look of intelligence with which he
said " Oh I see it," when he realised the number — sometimes almost
instantly. Mr. W. promised to return on another day but did not do
so, and we have had no further opportunity of experimenting with
him.1
As will be perceived the above experiments were improvised, and
we were not provided with suitable numbers. Before the next
attempt we procured a bag full of numbers belonging to a game of
Loto, and drew the numbers out of the bag. The bag contained all
the double numbers up to 90. The numbers were stamped in raised
figures on little round wooden blocks and were coloured red — the sur-
rounding wood being uncoloured. We give facsimiles as to form of some
of these blocks, so that our readers may have what means there are of
judging whether it was the image of the number or the idea of it in
Mr. Smith's mind that was effective. We may remark here that Mr.
Smith believes himself to have the power of vivid visualisation.
On July 5th, Mr. T., a clerk in the telegraph office, came to be
hypnotised. He is a young man aged about 19, who has been very
frequently hypnotised by Mr. Smith, and with whom many of Mr.
Gurney's experiments described in Proceedings, Vol. V., were tried.
We had tried some thought-transference experiments of a different
kind with him in the winter and spring — Mr. Smith silently willing
him to hear or not to hear certain sounds or questions addressed to
1 He wrote the following post-card : —
"Dear Sir, — Having considered the matter over, I came to the conclusion that
this mesmerism does me no good (although it may do me no harm), and also it is no
interest nor benefit to me, but rather to you all, so therefore you will not expect to see
me this evening."
YL 1
132
Experiments in Tliought-Transferenee.
NUMBER DRAWN.
61
• • ■
T.
84
• ■ *
T.
47
• • •
T.
32
...
T.
him1 — but the success of these was not very marked, and they are not
experiments of which it is very easy to estimate the value unless they
succeed every time. We think it hardly worth while giving any detail
about them here.
On July 5th, after some experiments of another nature, we tried a
series of 31 guesses of numbers of two digits drawn from the Loto bag,
above described. They were drawn out by Mr. Smith between his finger
and thumb, which effectually concealed the figures, and placed in a little
box, about an inch deep, which he held in his hand with its back to
T. TVs eyes were apparently closed, and he kept his head very still,
and we ascertained by experiment that he would have had to move it
several feet to see the number. The impression sometimes came to him
quickly, and sometimes slowly — as the remarks recorded show. He
was only told that he was to see numbers of two figures.
NUMBER GUESSED AND REMARKS.
"26.
" A 3 and a 2, 1 believe— 32. "
" Is it 0 ?— 0 2 ; it can't be that ! "
" Looks like 1 — can't see the first figure— 1
think it's a 6—61."
" 11, isn't it? two ones." S. : " Have a good
look." T. : "11."
" Seems like 2 ; 25, is it?"
"I believe it is 1 and 0."
" Can't see anything." S. : "You'll see it in a
minute." T.: " There's a 6, and, I believe,
a 2— 26, I think."
"No" (meaning that he saw nothing).
S. : " You'll see it in a minute." T. : "No,
can't see it . . . Believe it is 14. M
" I see a 3 ; there are three of them — 147."
"That's 61, I think."
" No, I can't see— can't see that." S. : "Wait
a minute." (Pause.) "Do you see them
now? " T. : " No, I can't." (A long pause.)
T. : "A funny thing that is — a mixture,
5, 8— looks like a 3 or an 8—3, 1 think."
"4, 0,1 think."
"Is it 2?" S. : "Well?" T. : "2, 3, I
think." S. : "Sure about the 3?"
T. : "Yes." (After a pause, the number
having been meanwhile put back in the
bag.) "Oh, yes," as if he got surer and
surer.
1 For a full description of other experiments of this kind see Proceeding* VoL I.
p. 256, Vol. II. p. 14-17.
There is an account in the Jtcvuc tic VHt/pnotisme for March, 1889, of some rather
similar experiments by Dr. Mesnet which may, perhaps, be explained by thought-
transference, though as there was contact between him and his patient, it is difficult to
80
21
18
56
59
37
61
33
T.
T.
T.
T.
T.
T.
T.
T.
40
21
T.
T.
Experiments in Thought-Transference.
133
NUMBER DRAWN.
47
• • •
T.
60
• • •
T.
74
22
38
45
59
66
21
83
80
73
83
21
Not noted.
to our
T.
T.
T.
T.
T.
T.
T.
T.
T.
T.
NUMBER GUESSED AND REMARKS.
"Isita5? SandS."
"6, that's all." S. : "Are you sure there's
nothing more ? " T. : «« Oh, yes, 61."
" Is it a 4 ? " " There's a 4 and a 7. No, it's
not Oh, dear no, it's 5, I think— 54."
" It's 20." (Pause, obviously trying after the
second digit) "22."
"It's 5 and . . . 35."
"I see nothing at all." (Pause.) "No, I
can't see it What makes it so long in
coming ? Now I can see it. It's a 4 and 5."
"What makes them so long coming? I see
something like a 2. It's a 2— Oh, it's a 9 ;
I think 29." S. : " Are you sure about the
first one?" T. : "Yes, 29."
" Oh, yes ; it's two sixes."
" Oh, it's a 1 and a 2, 21. Ain't there a lot
of them ! "
"Is it 3?" S. : " Well, what else?" T. :
"Nothing else."
" It's 80." S. : " That's right"
. . . such a lot of numbers as this." (T.
spoke very low and drowsily, and Mrs.
Sid g wick failed to catch the beginning of
this sentence.) S. : "Yes, when we're
looking for them." (Pause.) S. :"What
are you looking at?" T. : "Nothing.'
S. : "I thought you said you saw a lot of
figures?" T. : "A *3 to the right I
believe there's an 8." S. : "Are you
sure ? " T. : " Yes ; 693." (S. said there
were only two figures.) S. : "You must
have seen the 6 twice over, once reversed as
9." (Possibly the idea of three figures
was due to Mr. Smith's remark about a lot
of figures. )
(t
"85."
"24."
T. : "3, I think— 83." S. : "Sure?" T. : "Oh,
no, it's reversed 38. "
According
recollection
afterwards, the guess
was partly right
Possibly the idea of its being reversed may have arisen from Mr.
Smith's remark above about 6 being seen reversed as 9 — a remark
which had puzzled T. at the time. We asked T. how the numbers
looked when he saw them. He said, "They're a kind of a white — grey-
ish-white." He had not seen the numbers used in his waking state.
feel sure that unconscious indications were excluded. Dr. Mesnet held the hypnotised
person's hand and she heard or did not hear a friend of Dr. Mesnet speaking to her
according as the latter touched Dr. Mesnet 's other hand out of her a\£Yi\. at Tisft.
4 Experiments in Tliought- Transference.
JUBER DRAWN. NUMBER GUESSED AND WHAMS.
S3 T. : "A 6 and a 4." (After a pause.) "95."
78 T.: "38." S. : "Sure?" T. : "Yea."
On the following day, July 6th, 1889, we tried similar experiments
with Mr. P., a clerk in a wholesale business, aged about 19, who had
also been very frequently hypnotised by Mr. Smith, and who was also
one of the subjects in Mr. Gurney's experiments described in Proceed'
ingSy Vol. V. He can now be hypnotised very quickly by Mr. Smith,
though he was difficult to hypnotise at first, and he exhibits the
peculiarity that his eyes turn upwards as he goes off before the eyelids
close. He is a lively young man, fond of jokes, and with a good deal
of humour, and preserves the same character in the sleep-waking state.
The positions of agent and percipient and other conditions were the
same as on the previous day.
87 S. : "Now, P., you're going to see numbers. I
shall look at them, and you will see them."
P. (almost immediately): "87. You asked
me if I saw a number. I see an 8 and a 7."
(Number put away.) P.: "I see nothing
now."
19 P.: "18. What are those numbers on ? I sec only
the letters like brass numbers on a door ;
nothing behind them."
24 P. (after a pause) :" I keep on looking. ... I
see it ! an 8 and a 4 — 84."
85 P. : "A 3 and a 5—85." S. : "How did that
look ?" P. : " I saw a3 and a 5, then 35."
28 P.: "88. One behind the other, then one popped
forward, and I could see two eights." (Illus-
trated it with his fingers. )
20 P. : "I can't see anything yet." S. : " You will
directly." P.: "23." S. : "Saw that
clearly?" P.: "Not so plain as the
other." S. : "Which did you see best!"
P. : "The 2."
27 P. : " I can see 7, and I think a 3 in front of it. I
can see the 7." S. : "Make sure of the
first figure." P. : " The 7's gone now."
48 S. : "Here's another one, P." (This remark, though
not always recorded, almost always began
each experiment, until July 27th, when, to
avoid the possibility of unconscious indica-
tions, Mr. Smith adopted the plan of not
shaking at all. ) P. : " Another two, yon
mean. You say another one, but there are
always two." S. : "Yes, two." P. : "Here
it is. You said there were two ! There' J
only one, an 8." Some remarks here no'
recorded. We think that Mr. Smith sai<
there were two, and told him to lookagaii
i
Experiments in Thought-Transference. 135
NUMBER DRAWN. NUMBER GUESSED AND REMARKS.
P. said he saw a 4. Mrs. Sidgwick : "Which
came first?" P. : "The 8 first, then the
4 to the left, so that it would have been 48.
I should like to know how you do that
trick."
20 P. : " A 2 and an 0 ; went away very quickly that
time."
1 1 . . • ••• Jr. • 1 1»
86 P. : "3 . . . 86."
75 P. : " I might turn round. Should I see them just
the same over there?" (Changed his
position so as to sit sideways in the chair,
and looking away from Mr. Smith.) S. :
"Well, you might try." P.: "I don't
think I see so well this way." (He did not
move, however.) "I see a 7 and a 6 — 75.
Why don't you let them both come at once?
I believe I should see them better if you
let me open my eyes." (No notice was
taken of this.)
17 S. : " Now then, P., here's another." P. : " Put it
there at once." (Then, after some time) :
"You've only put a 4 up. I see 7."
S. : "What's the other figure?" P.:
"4 . . . the 4's gone." S. : " Have a
look again." P.: "I see 1 now." S. :
"Which way are they arranged?" P.:
"The 1 first and the 7 second."
52 S. : "Here's another." P.: "52. I saw that at
once. I'm sure there's some game about
it." (He had said something about this
before, when the number was slow in
coming. He said Mr. Smith was making
game of him, and pretending to look when
he was not looking.)
76 P.: "76."
P. was now told that Mrs. Sidgwick would look at the number, and
that he would see it just the same, which he quite accepted. Mrs.
Sidgwick then gazed at 82, Mr. Smith not knowing what the number
was, P. saw nothing, and kept asking Mrs. Sidgwick whether she was
sure she was looking at it. After a considerable time she handed the
number to Mr. Smith, still leaving P. under the impression that it
was she who was looking at it.
Then P. began as follows : —
82 P. :" I see 8 and 4, I think ; very soon gone again.
There's 2 come up. There ! that's gone
again."
We then tried to obtain results with Mr. Smith standing behind a
curtain which divided the room in which P. sat from an ad^oimn^ <hm&.
136 Eocperimente in ThoughUTmii&ference.
The distance between him and P. was then about 12ft P. was
left under the impression that Mrs. Sidgwick was still looking at the
numbers.
NUMBER DRAWN. NUMBER GUESSED AND REMARKS.
44 Mrs. Sidgwick : • • Do you see anything?" P. : "No. If
I was to imagine anything I chose I could
see it — 88, or anything ; but I wait for it to
come." (Pause.) " I thought I saw a 3, but
it went so quick. This is what they call
second sight, isn't it — seeing with your
eyes shut?"
51 The conditions were the same as with the last, but
as no impression came, after some time Mr.
Smith came silently into the room and
stood about 7ft. or 8ft. from P. There was
still no impression, and he moved to within
about 4ft. Then, as there was still no im-
pression, we told P. that Mr. Smith would
look as well as Mrs. Sidgwick, and that
be would then be sure to see. 8. : " See
anything!" P. : "No." (Pause.) "I seem
to see something that turned round. First
a 6 that turned into a 9." S. : " Do you
see anything else ? " P. : " No. Yes, I do,
al— 91. »
4o ... . . • «jy.
P. was now woken up, and after an interval Mrs. Sidgwick tried to
hypnotise him, but in vain. Mr. Smith re-hypnotised him, and we
tried the effect of different positions and distances.
Mr. Smith behind P. and close to him.
75 S. : " Now then, P." P.: "Do you mean to say
you're going to try that thing on again ? "
S. : "Yes; do you see anything?" P.:
" No, not yet." S. : " What do you see ? "
P. "I feel as if I saw a 7, but it went away
again. S. : "Yes; anything else?" P.
"A 5."
36 P. : "3 and a 6."
Mr. Smith a yard or so from P., and to his right.
72 P. : " 1 saw 72, but it went away again. Wait a
minute and 1*11 see if it comes again. Yes,
there it is, 72. I saw it, but it went away
instantly at first."
48 S. : "Here's another." P. : "Look at it." (Pause.)
" I see a 4 — see it there still. It stays
there." S. : Now you'll see some more."
P.: "Yes, an 8; 48."
Mr. Smith about 7ft. from P., not quite in front of him.
49 P.: "A 9." S. : "Yes?" P.: "96." (Pause.)
" Yes, they come again."
Experiments in Thought-Transference.
137
NCMBER DRAWN.
50
S3
86
64
57
74
14
33
NUMBER GUESSED AND REMARKS.
S. : "Now, then, P., here's another." P. :"A5
and a 7."
S. : "Now, then, here's another one." P. : "8." S. :
"Yes?" P.: "That's all." (Pause.) "2.'
P. : "35."
P. : "4, 3." (Asked in what order they came) :
" The 3 came afterwards. If I were to read
it I should call it 34 ; but the 4 came first."
P. : "7." S. : "Yes." P. : "6—67. I didn't see
them both together that time."
P.; "49."
P.: "31."
P. : " 2, 5 ; that would be 52."
Mr. Smith close to P.
70 P.: "A 0—70."
A blank sheet of paper was now spread out on the table, and P. was
told that he was going to have his eyes opened and that he would then
see numbers come on the paper. He was then partially awoken and
his eyes opened. Seeing the paper he immediately asked where the
planchette was, alluding to former experiments. He was told to look
at the paper and see what came, but saw nothing for some time.
He had evidently forgotten all about the previous state in which he
had been guessing numbers, and appeared so wide awake that it was
difficult to believe that he was not in a completely normal condition
until he began to speak of some former experiments in which we made
him see hallucinatory crosses on paper. Mr. Smith stood behind him.
NUMBER SEEN ON THE PAPER AND REMARKS.
"23." S. : "Is that what you can see?"
P.: "Yes" (but he added later that he
did not see it properly).
" A 7, 0. Oh, no, 8, 78. Funny ! I saw a 7
and a little 0, and then another came on
the top of it, and made an 8."
" There's a 4, 7." Asked where, he offered to
trace it,1 and drew the 47, of which the
following is a facsimile : —
DUMBER DRAWN.
18
87
37
P.
P.
P.
f-
1 We had, on previous occasions, asked him to trace haE\xdT£&\o,&&.
138 Experiments in Thought-Traruference.
NUMBER DRAWN. NUMBER SEEN ON THE PAPER AND REMARKS.
44 P.: "No. I see 5, 4 ; it's gone again." S.:"A11
right, look at it." P. : "45." S. : "Sure?"
P.: "There's a 4; — the other's not so
clear." (Then quickly.) " Two fours; 44M
As he looked one of them disappeared, and he turned the paper over
to look for it on the other side ; then looked back at the place where
he saw it before and said, " That's funny ! while I was looking for that
the other one's gone." When looking under the paper he noticed some
scribbling on the sheet below and said, " Has that writing anything to
do with it f " He seemed puzzled by the figures, which were apparently
genuine externalised hallucinations. He could not make out why they
came, nor why they disappeared.
37 P. (after long gazing) : " 87." S. : " Is that what
you see ? " P. : " It's gone. I'm pretty
sure I saw 37."
Mr. Smith then looked at the 37 again and we told P. to watch
whether it came back, but after a little while he said he thought he
saw 29.
On the occasion just described we adopted the precaution — which
was continued on subsequent occasions — of not letting Mrs. Sidgwick
know what numbers were drawn till after they had been guessed, so as
to avoid all possibility of bias in recording the remarks. She only
knew at the time the number which she herself tried to transfer.
Professor Sidgwick drew the numbers from the bag and handed them
to Mr. Smith, holding them so as to preclude any possibility of their
being seen in a normal way during the process.
Our next subject was Miss B., a young lady employed in a shop.
We had only two opportunities of experimenting with her. She had
been hypnotised on three previous occasions by Mr. Smith, and once by
another mesmerist, and is a remarkably good subject.
She came in on July 9th, 1889, when we were in the middle of
experiments with P., and saw in her normal state the way the experi-
ments were earned out and what the figures used were like. After she
was hypnotised and we had tried some other experiments with her, we
proceeded to the thought-transference.
NUMBER DRAWN. NUMBER GUESSED AND REMARKS.
16 S. : "Now, Miss B., I'm going to hang numbers
up." Miss B. : " I see 6." S. : " Do you
see anything else ? " Miss B. : " No. . . .
6, I'm sure. Yen, 1 ; 1 first and 6 after."
67 S. : "That's all right. Now you'll see another
one." Miss B. : "I think I see another 6.
All sixes. You keep putting up sizes.1*
. : " Yes, there's a six ; you'll see another
Experiments in TTiought-Transference. 139
NUMBER DRAWN. NUMBER GUESSED AND REMARKS.
in a minute." Miss B. : "I see the 6. . . •
There's something more. I can't quite see
— a kind of a 7, I think."
18 Miss B. : " Oh, not a 6 this time ? " S. : " No, not
a 6." MissB. : "land 8."
37 S. : " Now you'll see another, Miss B." Miss B. :
" Oh, 3,-6 again." S. : " That's right."
71 S. : "Now here's another." Miss B. : "I can't
see it." S. : " You'll see it in a minute."
Miss B. : "I believe it's another 6 and a 1."
66 Miss B. : "Well, I really think 6 and another 6—
nothing else.
02 S. : " Well, now, here's another, Miss B." Miss B.:
" 6 ; I can't see the other figure."
50 S. : "Here's another one, Miss B." Miss B. :
"Another! I don't see it." (After a
pause.) "I think I can see something."
S. : " What does it look like ?' Miss B. :
"5." S. : "Yes?" MissB.: "1 don't
see anything else just yet." (Then, after
a pause.) "5 and a round." Mrs. Sidg-
wick : "Is the round round the 5 ? "
Miss B. : " No, after it ; beside it." S. :
" Then it's 50." Miss B. : " Yes, 50."
84 S. : "Here's another number going up." Miss B. •"
"I don't see it yet." (Pause.) "I see
something . . . 8." S. : "What else?"
MissB. : "4 . . . 8,4."
15 S. : "Miss B., there's another number going up."
MissB.: "landS."
Miss B. was now told that she would see numbers gradually come
on a sheet of blank paper in front of her, and gradually disappearing
again, and was then roused into a lighter stage of trance, and her eyes
opened. She was told to look at the paper. Mr. Smith stood behind
her. We believe that in this stage she had no memory of the previous
one.
NUMBER DRAWN NUMBER SEEN ON THE PAPER, AND REMARKS.
88 MissB.: "Well, what am I to see?" (Pause.) "I
believe there are some figures coming. An
8 and an 8."
She then traced them in pencil, and we give a facsimile of the
tracing.
She said that they looked reddish in colour, but as before remarked,
she had seen the numbers in use, and may have been influenced b^tbia.
140 Experiments in ThougM-Trcvn&fervnce.
NUMBER DRAWN. NUMBER 8ZEN ON PAPER AND REMARKS
15 S. :" See if you see any more, Miss B." Miss ft:
"See figures— no; where are they?"
(Pause.) " I don't see any figures ; yon
are cheating me." S. : "You will see some
in a minute," Miss B.:" 1 with 6." (Traced
them with a pencil.) " Red, I think."
Then she was awoken and after an interval re-hypnotised and trials
made at different distances.
During the next six experiments, Mr. Smith was completely silent.
Mrs. Sidgwick, who did not know the numbers, carried on the conversa-
tion with Miss B., but did not think it needful to record her own
remarks.
Mr. Smith behind the curtain separating the two rooms and about
12ft. distant.
NUMBER DRAWN. NUMBER GUESSED AND REMARKS.
55 Miss B. : " Where is the number? I don't see it. It
looks something like a 3, 1 think. I can
see something. I think it is a 3 ; I can't
see it very well. Something coming. Let
me see— 6 again. There's some 6 there ; I
can't quite see. I believe some 6. I think
I see 6."
Mr. Smith in the room, and about 8ft. from Miss B.
64 Miss B. : "I don't see it." (Pause.) "Al. Isfc
a 1 ? Something coming like a round ; 8
perhaps, or 0 ; 10."
Mr. Smith close to Miss B., as at first.
65 Miss B. : "Something round again; I wonder what
it's going to turn to — not 0 — nor 8. It's a
6 ; 65."
Miss B. was now moved up close to the curtain and Mr. Smith
stood behind it.
49 Miss B. : " A 4, and the other one a 5 ; 45."
33 Miss B. :" Where's the number?" (Pause.) "1
and another 5."
50 Miss B. : " Round rings again coining ; 6, the other
looks like a round ring."
We had another opportunity of experimenting with Miss B. on
October 30th. On this occasion 6 attempts were made with Mr. Smith
in the room below the percipient, and 3 with Mr. Smith near her, but
quite silent. The list is as follows : —
NUMBER DRAWN. NUMBER GUESSED.
Mr. Smith in the room below.
i y . . . . . . . • • i,/| or 4
WW ••• ••« ■•• lO
«1 ... •• . . . . 0&
Experiments in Thought-Transference. 141
Mr. Smith near Miss B.
NUMBKJt DRAWN. . NUMBER GUESSED.
68 16 This experiment was interrupted.
90 • • • « • • • • • Do
69 69 or 61
Mr. Smith in the room below.
X^K ••• . . . ••• A A
%yZi ... ... «5o
\J $ ••• ••• ••• %Jmi
It would be tedious were we to describe at length all the experi-
ments, which have occupied us altogether on twenty-five evenings. We
give, therefore, the results of trials with P. and T. in a tabulated form.
The following is an explanation of the Tables. — The left hand
column on each day gives the numbers drawn,1 and the right
hand column the numbers guessed. When No. is printed instead
of a number it is because the actual number was not noted down.
A x in the place of a guess means that the percipient had no
impression of any kind. The successful trials are printed in thick
type, and so are the successful parts of half successes. Cases where
both digits were right, but in reversed order, are counted as
successes. An asterisk affixed to a guess means that it was to some
extent a second guess (for particulars of these see p. 146). The letter
preceding the number drawn indicates the relative position of agent
and percipient, as follows : a means agent close to percipient (not
actually touching) and in front of him. b means agent two or three
feet from percipient in front of him. c means any greater distance of
agent from percipient in front of him. Usually for position c the
percipient sat leaning back in an arm-chair on one side of a full-sized
card-table, not quite close to it and rather sideways to it, and Mr.
Smith sat at the other side of the table ; but sometimes Mr. Smith
stood 10 or 12 feet from the percipient, d means that the agent was
behind the percipient and near him. e, behind the percipient and some
distance off. f, the agent about three feet or more to one side of
percipient.
Other experiments besides those with numbers are given in the tables,
but not in any numerical statements.
1 On two or three occasions numbers other than the Loto numbers, and not drawn
at random, were looked at by Mr. Smith, but as this made no apparent difference we
have not thought it desirable to complicate the table by indicating them.
142
Experiments in ThcnujktrTransference*
Table I.
Trials with P. when Mr. Smith was in the Samb Boom with Hdl
July 6th.
a 87
19
*4
20
1
xS
$■
20
if-
I
Attempt behind
curtain interpola-
ted here.
b ji 91
» 4& 39
Woken, and rest
here.
%
20
s
75
17
52
rf 75
48
>>
c
*9
5o
35
64
SI
74
'4
33
a 70
>»
»»
>>
>»
»»
11
»>
>i
71
36
48
<?,,?
35
J4
*7
*9
J'
**
70
(Housed here par-
tially, and the rest
done with open
eye«.)
d 18 23
87 78
37 47
» 44 44*
»> 37 37
»>
>>
July 9th.
a 32
1/
13
23
79 79*
10 10
CAT CAT
Picture \ T
of Cat/ h
PAW (OVV
J* x9
Picture \ w
of Bird/ x
Diagram x
N x
DOG x
No. x
July 24th.
a 37
'3
83
20
7*
6\
'4
82
16
3'
44
7i
{
35
*7
45
26
54
36
41
5'
to
43
54
45
4*
July
25**.
a 46
7*
> '3
57
; %
*5
, 81
*,*
, /<?
*7
* 12
21
. #*
39
Julymh.
* 73
21
47
7*
4*
59
17
^7
67
/<*
8/
H
44
SS
30
17
4*
(76
-1 no
&
*4
|4
8?
*7
'3 6>4%5
85 &
Interval here,and
other experiments,
a 58 85
6 .*> *7
a 16 16
75
Si
34
(>5
?
V.
id in-
57
59
*4
*S
6/
*°
Woken, an<
terval.
(Plan of silence
on the part of all
who knew the num-
ber begun at this
point)
11
>•
e 16
,, 88
.» 35
i> 43
21
16
Seventeen at-
tempts behind cur-
tain interpolated
here.
« 73
11 46
27
11
Experiments in Thought-Transference,
143
July 29th.
July 30th,
August nth.
August 20th.
a 67 fa
d 60 62
e 20 34
After two at-
„ /o 41
"49 49
» 7x 7x
tempts outside
99 & 2
,,70 70
» 7* 7*
door, with no im-
» 7* 5J
»> 39 39
pression. Then
"3 s,
» 5* 5*
,, 81 81
..24 24
m 39 39
/ No. x
a No. x
.. * 26
i> 87 87
Rest here.
Attempts behind
>, J* 43
c No. x
curtain interpo-
„ */ 'J*
n 29 29
„ No. x
lated here.
„ 66 43
» 79 79*
Woken, and
e 88 74
,» ** 7«J
»» *7 7»
begun again.
„ 03 S3
„ 87 96
„ 7<* *>
c 22 3s
,» 49 49
»*/* . 9*
An attempt out-
t» 47 4/
!! 4* 4*
Rest here.
side the door, with
tt 3' *6
e 4/ 10
„ No. x
no impression. The
„ 26 48
„ xx xx
same No. then
» 38 63
Attempts behind
Rest here.
brought in.
». 3* 7S
curtain interpo-
c 2,3 22
c No. x
a 43 90
lated here.
„ 66 46
Rest.
Rest here.
e 64 . 64
,» 30 30
c 7S *3
(P. & T. together
for next two. )
c 16 46
» 3£ 35-
» 58 85
» J9 *7
»» n 49
„ 4^ 40
»» 79 69
„ 40 10
"«* , 75
c 86 x
>» So 37
Best here.
»» X5 51
,, No. x
c tfo 7,6
Attempt outside
» 3? 3*
the door here, with
„30 30
no impression.
Attempts behind
e 88 37
,, 69 2,0
curtain here.
» SS *
c 53 53
Attempts behind
Rest here.
c 79 <flp
curtain here.
» V a*
c S6 74
,,70 70
Rest here.
Attempt outside
the door nere, with
c 13 3S
t» J* 9*3
no impression.
»» 39 39
c 38 38*
,» jo **
» */ **
» 45 45
,,7/ /o
144
Experiments in Tkought-Tranaferenee.
August
21**.
September 2\st
September 22nd.
September 23rd.
f 78
X
c SS &
c 84 3?
e 82 63
„ *s
J5
,, 18 10
.. ^7 '7
(P. & T. together
» S3
7'
„ 8(7 %2
" 2* •?*
» 44
*9
„ 44 64
„ a? op
for the next eight)
„ 86
ss
Two trials here
» 5* «?
c 3^ 54
„ 70
^4
with Mrs. Sidgwick.
,, 67 10
,. 88 34
» *9
21
c 64 64
„ J9 ^
» *P 7<>
»» n
*3 .
» 37 37
„ 69 88
»> ** '7
Other
expen-
. Then
, 79 x
». 7* *P
t» *4 $9
ments here.
* *J '9
» * J*
» 86 91
a rest.
>• 7J* <?
„ ** Zf
t. 4* 73
c 16
81
„ 10 24
». J*' ** ,
„ <Sb 69
» 74
43
1, 57 57
Pause here, and
>. 89
30
>f 56 40
deeper hypnotisa-
„ 76
12
•t 5/ *9
tion.
„ '5
S4
•> 54 J7
c 28 93
» ^
S2
„ 44 *
,, 84 29
„ 70
39
Woken, and in-
» 3^ 3^
1> 69
S3
terval.
C J*J x
„ 14 29
,, J^ x
„ '5 *P
» 5<> 47
» 77 7*
,, 72 81
» 90 50
,, // 23
.. #* '7
Experiments in Thought-Traneference.
145
September 24th,
October 26th.
October 97th.
October 2&th.
c 43 3'
b 85 29
(P. &T. together.]
(P. & T. together
»> 3' *4
„ 3^ 7,8
After someattempte
for all this day.)
„ 21 19
» 26 3>*
from another room.
After some attempts
». *5 57
„ 64 4,0
c 53 n
from another room.
(P. & T. together
» 07 ^
(P. alone for next
c 88 90
for the next 20.)
(P. &T. together
three.)
„ 10 50
c 59 46
c 83 J9
>» 25 '0
„ 81 62
for the remaining
„ 41 28
"«W . 74
„ m6 65
attempts on this
„ 66 47
Pause here.
ff V 37
day.)
(P. & T. together
c 20 20
»» 74 57
0 39 40
for remainder of
tt 5J jo
„ Si 64
d 71 69
this day.)
More attempts
»f 39 22
» 77 21
c 41 31
from another room
^ *3, ?3
P. awoken here.
>, 60 13
» 57 S7
here, and then tried
» 35 8S
>> 45 28
card - guessing in
Interval.— P. re-
„ 7* 16
». *o 3*7
same room.
hypnotised, and
Rest here.
Woken, and in-
c *H 7H
positions of P. & T.
<* */ J,7
terval here.
„ J-S /S
exchanged.
„ 02 J,2
c 13 83
m ^S 5 V
c. 38 23
»» ^ J><
» 45 '4
„ 8H. 0C
„ 83 83
» J* *,'
» 24 38
„ 9H /H
.. 59 59'
t» ^ 97
». 54 63
„ /oC KD
,* 23 12
» *? J*
y>49 , V
„ QnC KveC
„ KD /S
>. 55 50
„ J* 61
Rest here.
,. 29 29
f 84 3t7
c 46 46
>i <ft> ^/
„ 7' 46
M 30 30
»» 3* ',5
»> 24 *>3
Attempts made
,1 7/ /0
„ 8* 80
» ^7 78
»» J9 4*
from another room
here.
October 29th.
»» *9, J7
Rest here
c atf 35
JlfVOV UvAvt
/ J2 02
(P. & T. together
Pause here. (P.
» 35 53
for all these.) After
alone after this. )
„ *7 *>
attempts down-
stairs, &c.
c 5J F,AJ
„ A? 94
» N N
„ 7$ 67
b 32 6,4
„ K K
» 7* J*
„ 71 21
» 88 x
>» 79 *o
>t 43 2Z
„ BEE B,E,E,F
Woken, and in-
„ HORSE BEE
terval here.
again
/ 7/ 38
» 75 75
„ 12 92
October 20th.
» J* 07
>t 4* 29
(P&T. together.)
>* -*3 73
After attempts
„ 10 19
downstairs.
,, No. 96
c 78 4
1rP. had been told that there would be letters, but as a number was afterwards
spoken of by mistake, we thought it better to take a number.
146 Expervmeni8 in Thought-Transference.
Summary of Table I.
All Days.
Total number of attempts 354
, , ,, successes ... . . . . . . ... ... f y
Of these 79, there were with digits reversed 10
,, „ „ to some extent second guesses ... 9
Most probable number of complete successes by pure
chance Vi* = 4 or 6.
Successful Days, i.e., token there were 3 or more successes.
Number of attempts 245
, % successes ... ... ... ... ... ... •£
Other Days.
Number of attempts 109
, , successes •■• • . . . . . ... ... ... o
Half successes, i.e., one digit right and in the right place.
Out of the 170 non-successful attempts on successful days 60
Of these the digit rightly guessed was in the first place 35
times and in the second place 25 times.
(Most probable number by pure chance *$£ + Yoa = about 36.)
Out of the 104 non successful attempts on other days 21
Of these the digit rightly guessed was in the first place 9 times
and in the second place 12 times.
(Most probable number by pure chance *$* + 1{^ = about 22.)
Number of successes with Mr. Smith completely silent 39
The plan of silence on the part of all who knew the number was
begun in the course of July 27th and maintained afterwards,
except in special cases noted at the time.
Number of successes with Mr. Smith behind P. 8
This is out of 7 trials on July 6th, the 13 first trials of July 30th,
and 13 trials, all failures, on October 26th.
Number of successes with a sheet of paper covering P.'s head ... 18 or 21
We believe that it was 21, but it is not explicitly recorded on
September 24th. The plan was begun on August 17th after
the first 4 guesses. On that day a single sheet of newspaper
was used. Afterwards the sheet was always double.
In the case of those numbers marked with asterisks the guess was not
completely right at first. The details of four of these, which occurred on
July 6th, have been already given. The rest were as follows : —
July 9th. 23 ... P. : " 73." S. : "Which figure is the most distinct?"
P. : "The 3; the other's gone now. 2."
S. : " What number is it?" P. : "23."
,, 56 ... P. : " I see a 2 and a 6 . . . Only a 6 there now."
S. : "What do you see?" P. : "A 6."
S. : "We'll see if you see another."
"P. : 5—53." S. : "I thought you said
Experiments in Thought-Transference.
147
»
July 30th.
79
38
P.
P.
6." P. : "Yes, but it's gone." S. : "Well,
what is it now ? " P. :" A 3 and a 6. 36
. • • 66.
"39." S. : "Which is most distinct?" P. :
9—79."
" I can see a 0." Mrs. Sidgwick (who did not
know the number) : " That's good— well,
it can't be 0 by itself. There must be
something else ? " P. : " That O's gone. I
can see 3 up there. ... I can see 8."
" 89." Professor Sidgwick (who did not know
the number) : " Were the two numbers
equally clear?" P.: "No, 8 has gone
away and 7 come in its place. I do not
know if 8 ought to have been there at all.'
Table II.
Trials with T. when Mb. Smith was in the Same Room with Him.
August 11th. 79
P.
July 6th.
July 24th.
July
25tk
July 26th.
a 6i
26
« 57
16
a 40
35
d Emerald Bluish
„ 84
3^
»f 3'
1
„ 76
96
Green Green
,» 47
02
» 12
42
11 '*
58
„ Red Red
»» 3*
61
,, *
7*
1, 2*
28
,, Brown Blue
„ 80
11
,, 78
26
Rest here.
,, Orange Red
„ 2/
25
11 -//
n
a 40
'3
(colour)
„ 18
10
i> *T
23
»» 3^
33
,, Blue Blue
„ 56
26
II J7
22
„ 4'
'5
,, Black x
>» 59
*4
„ 68
68
:9
3S
,, Red Red
II 37
'SI
» 3i
3i
76
,, Emerald Green
,, 61
61
„ *o
64
:: £
. 4/
Green
»> 33
53
„ CAN
X
6
,, Drawing x
„ 40
40
X
1, *5
55
of Key
,, 2/
23
.. N
X
.» 3*
35
„ Orange Red
»t 47
58
„ <?
X
1. 59
S5
(colour)
II 60
6/
Rest here.
„ 37
,, 63
,, 16
3
,, A Sov- A Pen
" 74
»»
{74
\S4
a 72
„ No.
16
X
63
4*
ereign
*i 77 62
„ 22
22
i» -#0
6?
„ 70 6,1,7,2
»» 3*
3*
,, 12 26
» 45
45
>» 24 42
,. 59
*9
» 77 *7
„ 66
66
11 60 63
„ 21
21
»» 36 3*
„ 8j
3
11 <*? 32
„ 80
80
M 40 40
», 73
693
» 3^ 3*
,» 8j
*5
11 /i *i
„ 2/
,, No.
24
38
» 44 44
*i 69 6>
»> 33
95
c Emerald Blue
,, 78
J8
•
Green
,, Red Red
,, Brown Green
n 70 26
,, 34 *4
»» 48 35
\>1
148
Experiments in Thought-Transference.
August 16*A.
August 19th.
September
20CA.
September 23rd.
c 49 37
a 22 26
c 84
4*
P. & T. together.
,i &7 *5
,» 52 52
„ 49 18
» 22 J8 ,
1, 30
7*
3f
>, W 8/
,. 71 71
Interval, and
<
" f2 :!
,,27 27
other experiments
/*
„ ^> JO
,, 1* V
tried here.
tt j* ,
*7
47
,,24 24
» 35 35
c 76 7/
„ 37 '4
Pause here.
c 28 S7
„ 80 A
„ 18 16
it 4^ 67
.. J*
*2
„ fc /j
» 32 32
.. *wrr
1, #*
^?
„ i5t 51
» 5^
5*
T. alone.
„ go 12
» 37 7*
„ jo
'7
». 43 *4
Pause here.
e 36 24
>*• «
„ *o
#
^ 40 3*
» if S7
„ go 16
»» 79 *5
„ 20 17
» *S *4
„ '2 5,2
„ 12 46
» J6 i°.
>, 5* 4>3
^ 15 <*>
W oken and in-
» 9° 3S
„* 70 16
terval.
» 90 33
Pause here, and
Other experi-
>. 46 ^3
some other experi-
ments tried here.
., 44 5*>
tt '<? 7J
„ 67 *J
„ So 16
ments.
Black Blue
Light Kind of
Blue dark
Red
Yellow White
Blue Blue
September
22m/.
c 43 4*
t> /o 94
c 63
» 4?
7*
*4
,. 13 *3
..3/ 37
., *S 49
»» 43 73
August list.
» 55
>. *7
J*
Orange Light
Yellow
53
» 74 *4
f '5 26
» JJ
^7
Crimson Light
Black
» /' *J
» 2^
21
80
,,69 69
„ 46 35
t» 33
Attempt outB&dl
»» *J *
*9
the room here.
„ # /7
" 60 I23
» 1*5
» 57
» *7
43
'5
c 61 29
»» 40 65
Woken, and La
>, 28 3,7
terval, with othu^
Pause here.
experiments hero-.
f *9 57
c 67 6j
M JO ^
» *x *i
» 83 3'
„ 5<* 38
«i /o *,7
» S4 57
„ s W
,, <fc? 39
.. A Z
» /J *7
t All the witnesses agreed afterwards in thinking that this guess had been
and noted down wrongly as reversed.
Experiments in Thought-Transference.
149
September
2Uh.
October 26th.
October 27 th.
October 29th.
(P. & T. together.)
(P. & T. together.)
(P. & T. together.)
After attempts
c 59
59
c 39 8j
After attempts
from another room.
„ 8*
4?
f 7' *3
from another room.
(T. alone, and with
„ X6
61
» 77 *>4
c 53 67
eyes open.)
d 28 *H
.» 3/
3J
» 00 4r3
Rest here.
» u
7*
» 35 *>4
c 41 1^5
" 2* ■*§ „
„ 81
9i
>t 7* *>9
» 57 fl
„ <?* g S or H
» 39
J*
Pause here.
» 4tf t92
/* or 3
» •** \black
„ 43
39
/ 21 2,1
» 70 j,-?
Pause here,- and
„ 62 7,2
Woken, and in-
»» 3* 45
positions of P. & T.
» 44 3
terval here.
» J<* 93
exchanged.
>t J* 4,7
c 13 8,2
» 7' *7
c 3*
„ 83
39
70
:: * l£
u 45 7>8
» *4 54
" 7* JUT
„ *S 7C
„ K&C Fig.
„ *S KveD
,» 59
93
„ *? 24
M 5*
»» *3
02
» 58 85
» -#9 4j
» 55
63
»t ** 4?
Rest here.
t> *9
47
67/ 46
(guess
Then after fur-
„ &>
4*
» «# J/
a6 X no*
^ "l waited
ther attempts from
„ J*
81
» ^7 79
other room, woken,
». 7/
83
::* ft
Uor.
and interval here.
„ 8*
80
,, 30 6,1
P. & T. together.
„ 76
74
Rest here.
Attempts from
b 32 463
a <?p
65
6 j2 9,2
the other room
„ 7t t,2
» jtf 49
here.
» 43 6,2
,,67 68
c 26 24
„ 60 to
>, 7<* 4j
October 28th.
(P. &T. together.)
Woken up, and
After attempts
interval here.
from another room.
b 7' 37
c 88 2,0
» 75 3*4
>* to 5>9
„ 72 *2
„ 25 9>6
» J* ^7
„ 74 5>*
» 42 42
Pause here.
„ *J 6,*
/'guess
» /* J*
„ _ J not
„ No. 66
c '*° iwaited
Uor.
»» .*? 7<>
October 30th.
More attempts
from another room
here, and then tried
cards in same room.
(P. & T. together.)
c 78 6,4
c 2R 7C
„ JS 5S
,, *S 5$
„ ^H 6D
„ 9H ;C
„ QnC KgD
„ KgD7§
150 Experiments in Thought-Transference.
Summary of Table II.
AU Day$.
Total number of attempts 263
, , , % BUvvUBBvB >•• • • . ••• ••• ••• ••• O^
Of these in reverse order 4
(Most probable number of complete successes by pure
chance ^ = 3orl)
Successful Day*, i.e., token there were three or more micoeues.
Number of attempts 129
, i successes ••• ••• «■• ••■ • . . ■•• **%
Other Days.
Number of attempts 134
, , BUvvvBovB . . . ••• • . • •*■ « • • ■•• §
Half-eueeesses, i.e., one digit right and in the right place.
Out of the 102 non-successful attempts on successful days 36
Of these the digit rightly guessed was in the first place 20 times
and in the second place 16 times.
(Most probable number by chance *$* + VJ? — 21 or 22.)
Out of the 127 non-successful attempts on other days 25
Of these the digit rightly guessed was in the first place 17 times
and in the second place 8 times.
(Most probable number by chance ^-f1 + J$f = about 27.)
Number of successes with Mr. Smith completely silent, viz., all those
in August, September, and October ... 19
Number of successes with Mr. Smith behind T. 4
All out of 13 trials on July 26th ; 4 trials on August 16th were
failures.
Number of successes with paper over T. 's head 2
This was begun during the 11th guess of October 26th, and about
33 trials made in all under those conditions.
The great variation in the amount of success on different days is
strikingly shown by these tables. Thus all P.'s attempts on July 24th
and 25th, August 20th and 21st, September 22nd and 23rd, 82 in
number, produced only 1 success — just what chance might be expected
to give ; while in 12 trials on August 17th he had 9 successes and 1
half success. Similarly with T. August 19th, 21st, September 20th,
22nd, October 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th show in the aggregate 83 trials
with 1 success; while on August 16th he was successful 7 times in
16 trials. We have entirely failed to discover any cause for this
variation, nor even whether it depends on the agent or the percipient.
Such things as the brilliant success on August 16th and 17th, and the
total failure on August 19th, 20th, and 21st, suggest that the difference
is not in the percipient ; for why should P. and T. vary together 1
Expervments in Thovght-Trawsfererice. 151
But, on the other hand, they did not always vary together, so that it
is difficult to attribute the difference entirely to the agent. Thus, on
September 23rd, when P. and T. were both guessing at the same time,
T. was quite right 3 times and half right 4 times in 9 guesses ; while
P. failed totally. During these experiments Mr. Smith was sitting 7
or 8 feet, or perhaps more, from T., and somewhat nearer to P. On this
occasion T. had come in after we had begun experiments with P., and
we hypnotised him partly to get him out of the way and partly in the
hope that remaining for a while in the hypnotic sleep might render
him more susceptible to telepathic impressions. We were much
surprised when, without anything being said to him about it, he began
to guess numbers.*
A similar difference between P. and T. showed itself on the next
day, September 24th, but in a still more puzzling way. T. came in as
on the 23rd, was hypnotised, and set in the same position as before.
P. was failing, and continued to fail, whereas T. had fair success — 2
successes and 3 half successes in 8 trials. After the 8 trials we stopped,
awoke P., had some talk, exchanged the positions of P. and T., and
re-hypnotised him. Then, for no reason that we could see, P. began to
succeed and T. to fail. Later on in the same day P. made his most
successful set of attempts with Mr. Smith outside the room. During
this he and T. sat together on the same sofa leaning against one
another, but T. failed completely.
This was not by any means the only day on which we had
experience of temporary runs of success within the day itself, as the
tables clearly show. In particular it is remarkable that on October 27 th
and 28th, amid general failure, P. should on each day have had two
complete successes running. The successes on the 27th occurred after
a longish rest (without awakening), but this was not the case on the
28th. Before the first success on the 28th P. was told that we would
rest after this one more, which may have had a stimulating effect, but
a similar promise was not efficacious on other occasions. The same
phenomenon — 2 right guesses in succession on an otherwise unsuccessful
day — was exhibited by T. on July 24th.
These three pairs of successes are isolated, not only from other
successes, but from half successes ; but on some of the successful days
we find half successes grouped round the successes. Thus on July 6 th
P. not only has one run of 7 successes and another run of 4, but in his
first 17 guesses there are 11 successes and 6 half successes — not a
* As Mr. Smith was not talking, and no one else had been put in communication
with T., no information could be given to him as to when a fresh number was being
looked at. It was owing to this that he made two attempts at one of the numbers — 46.
P. was very long — three minutes— in getting any impression that time, and T. had
both of his impressions with a considerable interval between themtaloTfe'P. vp&fe*
\*>i Erparvmmta in
nnqitt cnmnieOft failure. On July 9th ami on July 27th he had runs of
3 loccw—m and half fflfffwi Oil July 29th a run of 9, on August 17th
of L0,on3epi!emher2Iaso£<i Similarfy TL, on die first day he tried, after
beginning with five complete milnres, baa, in the comae of the next 23
trials only two which are note either successes or half sue ft mem On
Joly 26th, in 10 consecutive trials, there waa only one complete failure.
On August 16th he began with two feulures, and then had 10 successes
and half successes in succession, all after that nuhng again. As we
have already pointed one, there are, on September 23rd, 7 successes and
half successes in his first 9 trials, and on September 24th there are 5 in
the first 6 trials, with no success to speak of afterwards.
Sometimes, as the tables show, these runs of success seem to be
introduced or stopped by a change of conditions ; but this is by no
means uniformly the case. And in this connection we may call
attention to two or three sets of attempts where the percipient received
no impression at alL The most curious of these was on August 20th
with P. We began with two attempts while Mr. Smith was outside
the room. Up to this date, as will be seen in Tables ill. and IV., no
impression had been produced under these conditions. But what is
remarkable on this occasion is that the 4 succeeding attempts with Mr.
Hmith in the room, and even quite close to P., were absolute blanks,
ft was only after being woken and re-hypnotised that P. began to see
numbers, though this was scarcely an improvement, as they were all
wrong.
The position of Mr. Smith relatively to the percipient, so long as
both were in the same room, did not seem to us to affect the success of
the experiments on the whole, but with Mr. Smith outside the room
our success was poor, though still, in the case of P., considerably beyond
what might be expected by chance.
Experiments in Thought-Transference.
153
Table TIL
Trials with P. when Mb. Smith was Not in the Same Room
with Him.
Mr. Smith in a room divided by a
Mr. Smith in the passage outside
curtain from that in which P. was.
with the door closed.
P. about 10ft. from
P. close to
P. 10ft from
P. near wall, but not .
curtain.
curtain.
wall.
touching.
July 6th.
July 29th.
July VQth.
July 90th.
August nth.
Sept.
2<Uh.
44 *
30 25
After the
After suc-
After great
(P. & T.
JI x
'* 54
experiments
cesses.
8uccessinthe
together.)
jo* Sfi
recorded in
No. x
room.
43
43
76 2,6
the previous
Other ex-
No. x
10
3S
6J 8j
column, and
periments
S9
7i
*6 3,7
42 4,2
just after a
c ompl e te
and pause.
3S x
54
MA
3°
3°
July 27th.
32 64
74 SS
success with
Mr. Smith in
n
4S
47
^9
6o 74
Successful
the room.
7S
61
9'+ 3*7
J2 62
&7 86
experiments
in the room
here.
48 6,9
S3 7,3
16 82
36
20
S>4
^4
August 20th.
17 S3
S6 3J
38 16
29 29
*7 4*9
64 4S
(First ex-
n 58
Ji 21
23 23
periments
S7 43
20 45
16 3,8
tried this
10 6j
'7 33
SS 6>S
day.)
No. x
J8 2*3
16 83
48 8j
79 JS
E x p e r i-
73 'o
No. x
So 39
raents in the
09 3>S
Some ex-
26 3S
room, and
^3 SS
periments in
14 81
pause here.
2/ 27
the room,
20 66
48I S>7
3^ S*3
with no im-
84 07
7S 4*6
46 17
pression, fol-
lowed.
64 37
20 60
t This must be wrongly recorded, as there were no numbers above 90 in the bag.
JThis number was not drawn at random, but selected because P. had twice had a
very vivid veridical impression of it during this day's experiment.
154
Experiments in Thought-Transference.
Mr. Smith in the room below P.,
floor only between,
no plaster.
October 26th.
October 28th.
October 2MA.
October 30th.
(At end of evening.
(First experi-
(P. & T,
, together.)
(P. alone.)
P. & T. together.)
ments this evening.
58
3*o
67 *t
22 22
P. alone.)
51
a
88 21
i» 6y
*S 54
44
10
(P. & T. together.
lo 13
85 76
47
*49
37 73
'4 3<
25 So
'9
24
3' 45
14 22
24
65
75 2,7
43 54
(P. & T. together.)
49 58
66
18
40 80
October Vlth.
3*
89
96
73
78 46
48 19
(P. & T. together
05 43
34
66
78 3^
for all on this day. )
78 29
33
99
^4 49
12 8s
Other experi-
12
, 75 ,
34 34
34 98
ments, &c., here.
Rest
here, and
Rest hem
'9 3*o
'4 *3
then cards tried.
Experiments up-
69 70
<5D
KveD
75 *5
stairs, &c, here.
54 89
9c
^£
*S *7
Then after two
24 41
8C
9R
46 87
successes upstairs.
Pause here.
77 *6
78 8,9
66 1,7
3S o\
71 29
34 **
24 48
82 9,0
59 &
21 02
45 5>2
35 46
23 3*o
43 *9
7/ J2
76 jo
Rest here.
42 2J
'* 57
89 6j
16 49
Pause here.
44 62
7* 54
60 82
86 5*4
Pause here.
63 47
3* 39
X P. had not been told to look for a number in this trial.
Experiments in Thought-Transfereface.
155
Summary of Table III.
(1) Number of trials with Mr. Smith behind a curtain separating the
two rooms —
(a) P. 10 feet from curtain
(6) P. close to curtain
(2) Number of trials with Mr. Smith out of the room and door closed
(3) Number of trials with Mr. Smith in the room below
Total ...
Number of successes under condition (1) (a)
(1) W
(2) ...
(3) ...
t9
>>
>>
Total number of successes
In one of these, which occurred under condition (3), the digits
were reversed.
Most probable number of successes — 1 or 2.
Number of half successes under \ All with correct digits in second
condition (1) (a) / place
Number of half successes under \With first digit right ...
condition (1) (6) / ,, second digit right...
Number of half successes under \ With first digit right ...
condition (2) / ,, second digit right
Number of half successes under \ With first digit right ...
condition (3) ' ,, second digit right...
87
15
. 52
15
72
139
2
1
2
3
8
4
3
17
Number of cases in which P. had no impression ; condition (1) (a)
(2)
(3)
it
9>
2
5
1
8
156
Experiments in Thought-TrariBference,
Table IV.
Trials with T. when Mr. Smith was Not ix the Same Boom
with Him.
Mr. Smith in the passage
outside with the door
closed.
T. about lOfc
from wall.
Sept. 23rd.
43
T. near wall,
but not
touching it
Sept. 24th.
43
io
59
54
3o
'7
45
75
36
20
10
54
38
83
47
59
38
'9
45
37
Mr. Smith in the room below T. Flooring between;
no plaster.
Oct. 2Qth.
(At end
of eveninggether.)
P. & T. to-
gether.)
22 23
72 22
70 J/
*4 54
Oct 21th.
79
26
87
58
(P. ^.to-
gether. )
12 8j
34 89
i? ?3 ,
Rest, and
experiments
upstairs, &&,
interpolated
here.
78
7i
82
45
43
8,9
9>*
60
5*2
*>4
Oct 28th.
(P.&T.to-
49 6*5
^5 4*9
78 20
Experiments
upstairs
here, &c
14 64
69 4J
54 7>*
Pause here.
(P. & T. to-
get her.)
58 63
66
34
59
35
7'
76
4*8
2*1
4**
1*3
8*3
»*5
Best here.
42 42
18 24
89 7*2
16 6%o
Pause here.
4A **4
7' 57
Oct. 29th.
Other ex-
periments,
&c., and then
card trial.
<5D Kve
9C 5C
8C oS
OcLMh.
(P. &T. to-
gether.)
37
87
3*
5A
75
*±
40
80
78
4,<
48
7**
78
47
64
49
34
74
i&t
here*
75
5*
'5
46
a
77
«
35
84
*4
<*
21
0,1
*3
74
60
7>9
86
Jfi
Pause here.
63 21
38 54
The one success in 79 guesses is of course only what might be
expected by chance.
Though the success shown in obtaining good results with Mr. Smith
in another room is, so far, not great, we do not at all think that hope
of better success ought to be given up. There are, we think, several
points about the experiments, taken as a whole, which look hopeful,
as a discussion of them will perhaps show.
It will be noticed that both in the experiments with the curtain
between agent and percipient and in those where Mr. Smith stood
in' the passage, the first attempts resulted in complete blanks —
the percipient had no impression at all. Why this should have
been it is hard to say. We always tried to conceal from the
percipient that Mr. Smith had left the room or that there was
any change in the conditions. Of course we cannot feel sure that
Experiments in Thought-Transference. 157
we succeeded in concealing it, but at any rate the percipients never
alluded to his absence, never seemed conscious of it, and never
suggested anything of the kind as a cause of failure. T. several
times remarked that the numbers seemed very far away and so small
as to be difficult to see, but he did not seem to connect this with
the distance of Mr. Smith. It seems unlikely, therefore, that the
absence of impression was merely the effect of suggestion — of an idea
working itself out in the percipient's mind. It is perhaps more likely
that the idea of difficulty in the agent's mind may have been an obstacle
to success. However this may have been, it is noteworthy that the very
first time we succeeded in getting any result at all with Mr. Smith in the
passage (September 24th), we were very fairly successful — P. obtaining 2
complete successes and 3 half successes in 10 trials. On this occasion P.
and T. sat together on the sofa, near the wall on the side of the room in
which the door was, but not touching the wall. It had been intended
that Mr. Smith should stand just on the other side of the wall, so as to
be near them, but with the wall between. This plan was, however,
forgotten. Mr. Myers, who was with Mr. Smith drawing the numbers
for him, happened to take up that position, and Mr. Smith stood beyond
the door, so that there was not only the wall with the closed door in it
between him and the percipients, but a distance in a straight line of
perhaps 8 or 9 feet.
We had no further opportunity of experimenting in this room,
as Mr. Smith, who was temporarily occupying the house, was on
the point of moving. The October experiments were carried on in
an arch on the beach at Brighton. It was divided into two floors —
the upper one entirely occupied by a sitting-room, from which a
staircase, closed by a door at the bottom, led down into a lobby. In
this lobby, the door being closed, Mr. Smith stood or sat while trying
to influence the percipients from a distance, they sitting upstairs. But
though he was thus below them, his actual distance from them can not,
we think, have been materially greater than on September 24th. It is
possible, of . course, that a feeling of greater separation may have
produced a bad effect on the experiments, but it is not necessary to
suppose this, since the experiments in different rooms in October only
shared in the general want of success of all the experiments at that
time. October 26 th was the best of the October days both for P. and
T. with Mr. Smith in the room with them, and we observe that
on this day, out of the only 4 trials made when Mr. Smith was down-
stairs, P. had one success and one half success and T. 3 half successes. It
is to be regretted that we did not begin experiments in different rooms
earlier on this day, but the success had not been striking, and we waited
for a better vein, which did not come. On the whole, though Miss B.'s
want of success is an argument the other way, the result of out
158 Experiments in Thought-Transference.
experiments rather suggests that the special difficulty, whatever it may
have been, of obtaining good results with the agent in one room and
the percipient in another was overcome on September 24th, at least, as
far as P. was concerned, and that what interfered with success in
October, when by far the larger number of these experiments were tried,
was some general difficulty. Unfortunately, it seems not improbable
that this general difficulty may simply have been boredom on the part
of the percipients in the hypnotic state, of which there were several
signs, and that in that case we may be dependent on new percipients to
enable us to pursue the investigation.
We have now to discuss the nature of the impression received. It
was probably owing to our own suggestion at the beginning that this
was almost always visual, though it is possible that the fact that
Mr. Smith's impression was visual may have contributed to this result.
It would be interesting to find out whether a new percipient could
be similarly made to have auditory impressions. In two or three cases
T. said that he saw nothing, but that something seemed to tell him
that the number was so-and-so, but " something " never told him right.
The difference between this form of impression and his more ordinary
one is well illustrated by one of the experiments on July 25th. The
number drawn was 66. T. said, " Something says 37, is it ? " Mr.
Smith : " Can't you see that ? " T. : " No." S. : " Well, I want you
to tell me what you see." T. : "I can't see anything." S. : " Well,
look hard." T. : " Now it's something— 6 ? " S. : « Well ?" T. : " I
can't see anything else." S. : " Well, look hard." T. : " Can't see
anything else." (Pause.) S. : " Can you see anything now ? " T.
" I see a 6 ; nothing else." The number was then put away, and T.
was told that he saw only 6 because the number consisted of two sixes.
T. : " Oh, that's it, is it ; but I ought to have seen two sixes, then, and
I only saw one."
This last remark illustrates a characteristic point about the
impressions, namely, that they were perfectly definite perceptions,
not to be changed by consciously received suggestions or by an
exercise of the imagination. Another illustration may be given of
this. On August 21st P. was told that he was now to see something
quite different — not a number at all, and Mr. Smith then looked at
the word DOG. As after some time he had had no impression whatever,
Mrs. Sidgwick told him it was a word. As this did not help him she
added that it was something he was fond of. Still P. had no
impression, so she told him to try to see one letter — the first letter of
the word. Presently P. said : " I see an S or an 8 — it's gone again ; "
quite regardless of the fact that a word could not begin with 8.
In saying that the impressions were perceptions — not guesses in the
Eocperimente in Thought-Transference. 159
proper sense of the word — we do not mean that they were always clear ;
but when not clear it was, so to speak, clearly perceived that they were
not clear. It is somewhat difficult to decide whether the impressions
ought to be called hallucinations because the percipients had their eyes
closed, and we have, therefore, no clear conception of what the aggre-
gate of their visual sensations was and what relative place in the
aggregate this particular one had. The experiments with open eyes
when the numbers were seen on the sheet of paper, though they
prove that the impression could be externalised as a visual hallucina-
tion, cannot, of course, prove that it had the same characteristics in
a different stage of hypnotisation. The question is complicated by
the fact that P. was, at times at any rate, — as his remarks in
the seance of which the full account has been given show— conscious
that he was not seeing in an ordinary way, but that his eyes
were closed. Nevertheless, the percipients spoke so persistently
of seeing, seemed so clearly to locate what they saw in a particular
point in space, and so clearly at times expected others to share the
impression, that we can hardly doubt that it had to them the
characteristics of a sensation received through the eyes. In the seances
described at length the reader has already some of the material for
forming a judgment on this point, and we may quote here a few more
incidents which seem to throw light on it.
On July 9th, after the successful guess of 10, Mrs. Sidgwick asked
Mr. Smith in writing, which was our mode of communication with each
other about the experiments, to tell P, that he (Mr. Smith) did not
know what he would see now, that he did not think it would be
numbers, but that P. was to tell him whatever it was. Mrs. Sidgwick
then handed to Mr. Smith the letters CAT, taken from a spelling
game and arranged in the lid of a box in such a manner as to make it
impossible for P. to see them had his eyes been open. The experiment
was quite unexpected by Mr. Smith, who had never seen the spelling-
box, as well as to P., Mrs. Sidgwick hoping that the mild surprise
would produce some interesting result. P. said excitedly (and we
think pointing, though this is not recorded in the note-book): "There
it is— there's a cat, look." S. : " What do you see V P. : " Why,
CAT; don't you see it ? Did you think I saw a black cat or a
tabby ? I wish I had ; I'm very fond of animals. I mean the letters."
In this connection we may mention another incident which had nothing
to do with the present experiments, but has some bearing on the
question under discussion. P., when left to himself in the hypnotic
state, usually starts dreams and hallucinations on his own account.
These generally relate to the circumstances of his every day life ; for
instance, he will carry on conversations with a brother or companion
whom he imagines to be present. Once, when left in this way with
160 Experiments in ThoughUTransference.
closed eyes while we were attending to someone else, he began to go
through all the action, with appropriate words, of petting an imaginary
cat which sat on his knee and climbed about him and over the back of
his chair. When Mr. Smith asked him what he had got there he
seemed indignant at the stupidity of the question because Mr. Smith
must be able to see that it was a cat.
Such remarks as the following — selected among many — all seem to
show a belief on the part of P. that he really saw the numbers : —
On July 29th, 48 having been drawn, P. said: "These two are
plainer. If you always put them up like that I'll always tell you."
Later on the same day 48 was drawn again. After a pause P. said,
with excitement : "That's that 48 again, just as clear as before."
In another trial on the same day, when 20 was drawn, P. said :
"45; shall I wait to see if they change? I see them up in the air
sideways a bit."
On August 21st — a day when we had no success at all — 17 was
drawn, and P. guessed 83, remarking that they were " bigger numbers
to-night. I seem to see them quicker."
Later on the same day he remarked of one of his impressions that
both figures seemed half rubbed out. Similar to this was a remark he
made on October 30th. The number drawn was 44. P. said : " 2 and
a 0, the 0 plainest, but not very plain. The numbers are getting too
old, I think."
On October 29th, in one of the trials with Mr. Smith downstairs,
59 having been drawn, P. said : "I can see 5 — and a 2, one after the
other — 5 again and 2 underneath it. It was 25 afterwards. There it
is now. Do you see it, Mrs. Sidgwick ? "
In the next trial the impression persisted after the guess had been
made and when we wanted to go on to the next. So Mrs. Sidgwick
suggested to P. that lie should look away from it. P. said he would,
then laughed, saying he had looked away for a moment and then looked
back, and in that moment the numbers had gone. Similarly on
October 30th, after guessing a number (quite wrong, and also
unlike T., who had spoken first), P. said : "I did not know there was
another up. I did not look, and there it was in front of me. The five
was the clearer of the two."
On another occasion, October 27th, Mr. Smith being in the same
room with him, P. said : " Would you mind my sitting a little nearer ;
I can't see well." He was told that the numbers had been brought
nearer, which satisfied him, but the guess he made was nevertheless
wrong.
T.'s remarks about his impressions were very similar. Thus, on
July 25th, the number drawn being 25, T. saw nothing for some time,
then said : " A sort of 5." S. : " Well, what else ?" T. : " 5— 8— no,
Experiments in Thought-Transference. 161
not 8— it's a bad shaped one— 35." S. : " Sure it's a 3 ? " T. : " It's
made badly."
Again, on October 27th, the number drawn being 34 and P. having
guessed 98, T. said: "8— looks like 0— it's a 9— the 0 not quite
plain — I think it's meant for a 9 — one over the other." And again in
the next trial : " It's a 9 and a 3 — 9 at the top. That 9's very bad."
On September 20th. T. said, in answer to questions, that he saw
the numbers right up in the corner — dark on a light ground — very
small. He also complained on this day and at other times of their
being " such a long way off you can scarcely see them."
T. gave quite a different account of his impressions when guessing
numbers with Mr. Myers as agent. He did not then talk of seeing,
though he had been told he would either see or hear a number. When
asked whether he heard or saw it he replied, " No, I seem to imagine
it"; and he said the same when Mr. Leaf was trying thought-
transference with him.
An interesting point about the impressions of the percipients will
already have been noticed by the reader, namely, their frequently
gradual development, along with which we may consider the
varying times which they took to come. Quickness was not specially
associated with Tightness. On August 16th, T.'s successful attempts
varied in the time they took from 15 seconds to 2 J minutes, and on
August 17th, P. when successful took from 45 seconds to 3 £ minutes.
We did not always time our experiments, so have no complete record.
The longest time recorded was 3 minutes 50 seconds. This was on
September 21st ; the impression, when it came on that occasion, was
wrong and also fleeting, and the attempts before and after it produced
no impression at all. A rather remarkable experience on the same day,
however, suggests that the impression, even when right, may take much
longer to come and may even be deferred — meaning by that that it may
be received by the percipient after the agent has ceased to direct his
mind to it and when he has begun to try to convey to the percipient a
totally different impression. What happened was this. After two
successive correct guesses by P., the number 19 was drawn. We waited
for 5 J minutes, and then, as P. had no impression, gave it up, and drew
another number, which turned out to be 43. Twenty-five seconds after
the new number was drawn P. said 19. This was recorded and another
number drawn, viz., 75, 13 seconds after which P. said 43. Thus two
numbers in succession were rightly given, but one stage late. The
numbers had not been named aloud, and P. had a double sheet of paper
over his head, so that he could not have seen them even if they were
handled carelessly after being given up. It makes it less likely that the
occurrence was due to chance that it happened in a run of successes ;
there had been 4 half successes and 2 successes in the 6 ^raviowa \»y\»X&.
162 Experiments in Thougkt-Tram&ference.
Once at least — viz., in the experiment of August 17th — P. had his
impression before Mr. Smith looked at the number. It was wrong, as
might be expected, but he stuck to it after Mr. Smith began to look. The
impressions often came almost immediately, though we have no shorter
time recorded than 13 seconds. One of the quickest was a right guess
of TVs on October 26th. To stimulate their interest, we had put P. and
T. en rapport with one another and told them to try who could see the
numbers quickest. Then 21 was drawn, and instantly T. said, " 2 and
a 1." So instantaneous was it that Mrs. Sidgwick, who did not know
the numbers, thought that T. had guessed at random and without
waiting for the usual visual impression, in order to be before P. She
taxed him with this, but he declared that he had seen it.
The gradual development of the figures was of two kinds — either
one figure coming before the other, or the figures forming themselves by
degrees. A good instance of the first is afforded by one of T.'s
successful guesses on August 16th. The number was 32. He said 3.
Professor Sidgwick said : "Do you see only one ? " T. : " Yes.'*
Prof. S. : " Try to see another." T. : " 2." Mr. Wingfield, who was
taking the time, recorded 30 seconds for the first and 55 seconds for the
second. Again, on July 29th, the number drawn being 30, P. said:
" I see 3 — I see one of them now. Mr. Smith, please look at both of
them.*9 S. : " All right, I'm looking at both of them." P. : " There's
a 0."
The following is a case of gradual development of one of the
figures. It was on July 27th ; the number drawn was 89 ; P. said :
" 9." S. : " Yes 1 " P. : " 8 in front of it. I thought it was going to
be a 0 at first."
But one of T.'s guesses of cards was as marked an instance of gradual
development as any, though his impression was not derived from Mr.
Smith. Mr. Smith was downstairs looking at a 9 of clubs. P., who
was not en rapport witli T., guessed 5 of clubs. Then T. said : " Has
Mr. Smith put anything up yet ? Oh, yes, yes (meditatively). I see
it now (then counting), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 5, yes — a black — 5 of clubs.
Oh, I see them plain ; 5 still."
Quickness and clearness did not necessarily go together ; for*
instance, in one of the trials on October 30th (wrong, but made more
quickly than his recent attempts) P. said, "That's quick, isn't itt**
Asked whether it was plain, he said, "Not very, but it came
suddenly ; the others took some time to form."
Nor, again, did clearness and Tightness necessarily go together,
though we do not remember that P. was ever excited by the vividneai
of an impression except on certain occasions when it was right. T. wai
never excited at all.
T., on more than one occasion, began to guess numbers when we hid
Experiments in Thought-Transference. 163
not intentionally called his attention to the subject ; he had, however,
seen P. doing it before he was himself hypnotised, and this may
have suggested itself to him. P., as far as we remember, only once did
anything of the kind, and that instance was a rather curious one. He
had been left in a deep sleep with a paper over his head and at a
considerable distance from Mr. Smith and T., while we were trying the
experiments with the latter with his eyes open on October 29th. Mr.
Smith was looking at the 4 of spades and T. had been describing the
imaginary knave of diamonds which he saw on the paper in front of
him. Suddenly P. said : " Let's have a game of cards1 — 4 of spades/'
S. : " What's that you are saying V P. : " About a 4 of spades I saw.
I thought you were putting up cards."
We now come to the most important question of all, namely, how
the impressions, which thus visually presented themselves to the
percipients, reached their minds.
Before discussing the successful attempts at divining the number
on which Mr. Smith was concentrating his attention, it is worth notic-
ing that in certain unsuccessful attempts when P. and T. were guessing
together, they influenced each other, or, at any rate, P. influenced T.
There were 156 of these joint trials. In 11 cases the order of guessing
is not noted, in 21, which we may call mixed guesses, the digits were
named singly, and either alternately by the two percipients, or else one
having named a digit, the other named two, and then the first finished.
In 38 cases T. completed his statement before P. began ; and in 86 P.
similarly guessed first. Now among these 86 cases in which T. did not
make his guess until after P. had finished, he guessed the same two
digits as P. 16 times,2 in 13 of which the digits were in the same order
as P.'s. This might not have seemed remarkable if we had previously had
reason to suppose that T. could always hear P., but, as a matter of fact,
they were usually not en rapport with each other — neither apparently
knew that the other was present, and when assured that he was and
communication attempted, each would get annoyed with the other's
rudeness in not answering him, however much he raised his voice and
shouted to him. And the proportion of these imitative guesses was
rather larger when they were not en rapport than when they were.
1 One of our devices to stimulate their interest had been to call guessing cards a
game, the day before.
2 None of these were successful guesses. Had they been, the second could not
of course have been counted. But though P. and T. did not influence each other for good,
there is some reason to think that they sometimes influenced each other for evil— the
impression from the co-percipient overcoming that from Mr. Smith. Thus on one
occasion (September 24th), when the number drawn was 74, T. said 7, then P. said
57, upon which T. said 75. Asked to repeat, he said : " I think it was 7,4; I said
5 but it was more like 4— had a tail to it." P. and T. were not en rapport on this
occasion.
164 Experiments in Thought-Transference.
T. followed P. when not en rapport with him 63 times,1 in 10 of which
his guess was the same as P.'s, besides 2 where he gave P.'s digits in
reverse order. So large a proportion as this can scarcely be due to
chance, and we could strengthen the presumption that it was not, by
an examination of the mixed guesses and of those in which T. gave
one number the same as P.'s, or vice versd. The influence of T. on P.
was less marked, but appeared to exist. We must therefore suppose
that sounds which fell unconsciously on the ear yet produced an impression
on the mind, of which the percipient became aware solely through its
reproduction in a visual form — a supposition which is, of course, entirely
in accordance with observations made by others.
One conclusion to be drawn from this is that for evidential purposes
in psychical research no reliance can be placed on the fact that a
person — whether hypnotised or not — is entirely unaware that an
impression has reached him through his senses, if by any possibility it
could so have reached him. It is, therefore, necessary to examine the
experiments dealt with in this paper with anxious care in order to see
whether there was any possible channel of sense through which the
agent's impression could have reached the percipients.
The eye is, we think, absolutely excluded. There were a sufficient
number of successful experiments with Mr. Smith behind the percipient
and witli the percipient's head covered over, to make it unnecessary to
consider the various possibilities of careless handling of the numbers*
reflection in the cornea, or changing facial expression and gesture.
The sense of touch may also, we think, be regarded as excluded.
There was never any direct contact between agent and percipient
except in one or two cases where it was purposely tried and did
produce success, and it seems absurd to suppose that vibrations of tlfc.
floor caused by rhythmical movements of the agent, of which he was
self unconscious and which were invisible to others, can have
powerful enough to affect the percipient.
We are reduced, then, to the sense of hearing. Here, again, all i
dications by leading questions or changes in the tone of voice are «
eluded by the success of the experiments when all who knew the nui
ber were absolutely silent. There seem to be only two ways in whi
the impression could have reached the percipient through his earti
either by means of faint unconscious whispering of the number bv
Smith in the effort of concentrating his attention on it, or by me«B>
1 It ought to be stated that in two of these cases Mrs. Sidgwick rei>eated
number after P. before T. apoku. She was herself, however, not en rapport withT- ml
one of those two, and as regards the other, it did not appear from other experiittex*.*
that T. was easily influenced in his guesses, consciously.
2 Compare some of the incidents mentioned in the paper on recent expeiim©**^1
in crystal vision, Proceedings, Vol. V. See also in this connection M. Pierre Jan«fc *
interesting volume, L'Autoinatismc Psychologiquc.
Experiments in Thought-Transference. 165
of faint unconscious counting of the number by breathing, or some
other rhythmical movement producing sound. Both suppositions
appear to involve hyperesthesia in the percipient, since the supposed
sounds were unperceived by attentive bystanders, and nothing else
that we observed gave us any reason to suppose that the percipients
were hyperesthetic ; indeed their apparent unconsciousness of Mr.
Smith's absence when he was in another room seems to show that they
were not. But let us assume hyperesthesia ; let us also assume, what
we have no ground for regarding as at all probable, that Mr. Smith
may have whispered or counted unconsciously after his attention had
been called to the danger of doing so; and let us examine the two
suppositions. On either a certain number of failures would almost
certainly occur, in which' the indications given would be imperfectly
apprehended.
Of the two suppositions, unconscious whispering seems the less
improbable, because the concentration of the mind on a written or
printed number with a view to having as intense an impression of it
as possible, is found to cause a certain tendency to say the number
mentally, but no tendency to count it. The symbol for a number is in
this respect unlike, for instance, a playing card, where a tendency to
count the pips often does accompany the effort to concentrate one's
mind on it. Now any whispering or faint pronouncing of the number
would lead, one would think, to numbers whose names have common
characteristic letters being mistaken for each other. Thus we should
expect to find fours and fives interchanged .because of the f; sixes and
sevens because of the s; perhaps twos and eights, and ones and nines
because of the t and the n ; and possibly fives and nines because of the i.
Three would stand by itself as quite different from all the others. "We
confine ourselves to the single digits, because the names of double
numbers are practically compounded of the names of the two digits of
which they are composed.
Now if we examine the guesses we do not find that any of these
mistakes are prevalent. The following three tables show the numbers
drawn, with the corresponding guesses, analysed into single digits : —
Experiments in Thottght-Tremaferenee.
Table V.
P.'a Guesses Alone on Successful Days, Mb. Smith being rs te
Same Room with Hue
I!
Numbers Guessed.
/
'
3
4
3
6
1
a
9
'
i
/
'7
3
4
4
S
1
a
a
,
.
43
•
'
'4
S
a
'
3
a6
3
*
8
a,
3
3
3
'
3
'
46
4
4
6
93
*
3
*
'
3
•
•
46
S
*
■»
4
4
j6
4
3
J
3
'
3
46
6
a
a
a
4
'
t4
t
3
*
3
*
37
7
*
4
*
*
4
4
*7
3
45
S
1
1
8
'
3
3
*>
'
3
44
9
*
'
1
I
'
*
1a
•
•
a,
o
3
4
1
*
*
1
*
s
«
Totdi
3'
4i
J*
46
37
aS
46
40
*4
*7
r*
376
Experiments in Thought-Transference.
T.'s Guesses Alone on Successful Days, Mr. Smith being in the
Same Room with Him.
E .
§1
Numbers Guessed.
■a &
ii
■
'
J
4
J
6
1
8
9
-
SHB.
3
4
S
6
7
8
9
Totals
9
3
3
4
J
*9
9
3
3
4
11
3
3
3
3
3
3
1
3
3
j
i
i
3
'
*4
'7
'3
iS
V
'4
9
'4
"
»
r8
»
9
7
&
7
•
166
Experiments in 'l^tought-Tranaferenm.
Table VII.
All Guesses with Mb. Smith in the Sahb Rooh as the Percipient.
or ONLY Divided fbom them bt a Curt aim.
II
Numbers Guessed.
IS
'
*
3
4
3
6
7
s
9
•
1!
3
4
5
6
7
S
9
43
*4
7
'3
4
7
j8
34
*4
16
9
31
7
S
6
J4
13
'3
36
10
*7
S»
,6
13
'3
S
8
AS
13
3S
iS
'3
6
9
*3
9
^3
'9
46
j6
3
7
6
7
14
4°
'4
J
S
13
s
7
6
S
13
&
34
6
3
6
»
9
9
3
4
7
'9
6
4
3
3
3
3
3
J
9
'9
4
3
6
S
3
J
168
140
,66
'69
12S
'4°
'tS
147
7'
S3
Totals
t-UI.'rw'li
143
"'\m
'34
'47
14S
136
lf$
7*
SS
39
'35*
Eocperimente in Tkcmght-TraTisference. 169
Table V. gives P.'s guesses on successful days, when he was
guessing by himself, uninfluenced therefore by T. Table VI. similarly
gives T.'s guesses on successful days. Table VII. gives all the guesses
of all the percipients (except one or two where more than two digits
were guessed), whether joint or not, when Mr. Smith was either in the
same room with them or divided from them only by a curtain. The
first column in each table refers to the numbers drawn, the first
line to the number guessed. If therefore,for example, we want to see in
Table V. how many times 5 was guessed as 7, we find 5 in the first column
and follow the line headed by it till we come under 7 in the first line.
The number thus arrived at namely 3, is the number of times 5 was
guessed by P. as 7 on his successful days. In making these tables we
have counted guesses in which both digits were given in reversed
order, as reversed, so they are not included among the cases of corre-
spondence between numbers drawn and numbers guessed. After
allowing for what would probably have happened by chance alone, the
number of guesses with both digits right but reversed is about
5 per cent, of the number completely right. If, therefore, the same
tendency to reverse the number occurred in unsuccessful attempts,
when the number was imperfectly apprehended, we must assume that
about 5 per cent, of the numbers in the tables are wrong, when judged
in relation to the origin of the idea in the percipient's mind.
Now let us consider the effect of counting. This would lead to a
tendency to guess the numbers immediately above and below the right
one, especially in the larger numbers. Here also we confine ourselves
to single digits, since the digits, if there is counting at all, must be
counted separately. It is absurd to suppose that any one would count
up to 72, for example, because he was concentrating his mind on that
number. Turning to the tables we find from Table VII. that eight
mistakes were made twenty times or more. These were : 1 guessed as
3 and as 5, 2 guessed as 3, 3 guesssed as 2, 4 guessed as 1 and as 3, 7
guessed as 2 and 8 guessed as 3. Of these eight, only three could
possibly be explained by unconscious counting, viz., 3 for 2, 2 for 3,
and 3 for 4. But of these the two first might equally well be explained
as results of the kind of imperfect vision of the number so often
complained of by the percipients, and this is also the explanation
suggested by the most prevalent mistake of all, namely 8 guessed as 3.
And that this is the true explanation is further suggested by the fact
that 3 is very seldom guessed as 8. For though an 8 half rubbed out
might resemble a 3, a 3 could not so easily be converted into a badly
seen 8, whereas with 2 and 3 the possibility of mistake would be recipro-
cal ; an imperfect 2 might be mistaken for a 3 as easily as a 3 for a 2.
On the whole, therefore, we think that an examination of the facts
affords no support worth considering for the supposition — in \\&^i *&
170 Experiments in Thought-TraTisference*
we have said extremely improbable— of unconscious counting hyper-
aesthetically heard. Further the supposition of counting cannot
possibly explain the successful guessing of CAT and the guessing of
BEEF for BEE. If this was the result of unconscious auditory
indications at all, it must have been of whispering, a supposition, as we
have seen, quite unsupported by anything in the guessing of numbers.
Finally, though our success with the agent in another room was
comparatively small, it was, in P.'s case, quite sufficiently beyond the
probable amount to afford support to the view that the conditions of
success, whatever they were, were, at any rate, independent of uncon-
scious auditory indications.
Before leaving the tables we may call attention to the fact that a
decided number-habit is exhibited,1 especially by T., which led him to
guess the higher numbers, 7, 8, and 9, comparatively seldom, and that
this seems to have affected successful and unsuccessful guesses alike.
The number 9 had of course a smaller chance of being guessed right on
account of the absence of numbers above 90. There were scarcely
enough trials, probably, to reveal any number-habit as regards double
numbers, but the guesses extended over the whole range. All numbers
turned up, all were guessed. Only fourteen were never guessed right.
These were 14, 25, 28, 33, 47, 51, 54, 55, 60, 62, 73, 77, 85, 90. One
number, viz., 24 was guessed right seven times including two of "W.'s
guesses on July 4th. One number, 48, was guessed right five times.
Six were guessed right four times, viz., 15, 16, 30, 35, 36, 75. Ten
were guessed right three times, viz., 20, 29, 32, 37, 39, 42, 58, 71,
76, 87. The rest were guessed right either once or twice.
1 It is scarcely necessary to remind our readers that a number-habit affecting the
percipient only can have no tendency to increase the number of successful guesses.
4 discussion of this subject will be found at page 209.
«pp*»«*.] International Congress. 171
SUPPLEMENT.
L
INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF EXPERIMENTAL
PSYCHOLOGY.
By A T. Myers, M.D.
The Congress of Physiological Psychology — whose name, however,
was changed in the course of its debates to that printed above — held its
fat meeting in Paris, August 6-1 Oth. Nearly 200 members had
ascribed themselves (the fee being 10 francs), and more than half of
tbne attended the meetings, although the rival attractions of other
ttngresses tended to make attendance somewhat irregular. The
frincipal meetings were held in the new Amphitheatre of the Ecole de
Udecine, and the sub-sections met in the class-rooms adjoining, the
forming body having placed these very convenient quarters at the
fcposal of the Congress without payment.
Prof. Charcot, under whose presidency the Congress was convened,
*» unfortunately prevented from being present by indisposition,
tot Dr. Magnan and Prof. Ribot as Vice-Presidents, Prof. Richet
* General Secretary, and MM. Gley and Marillier as Assistant
[Secretaries extended a courteous welcome to the foreigners pre-
set Members from Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Chili, England, Ger-
*«iy, Holland, Italy, Mexico, Roumania, Russia (including Finland
■nd Poland), Salvador, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United
totes, took part in the debates, and we believe that members
fan other countries were also present. The English Society for
fychical Research was represented by the President and Mrs.
fcjgwick, Mr. Barkworth, Mr. Kleiber, Dr. Myers, and Mr. F.
'• H. Myers. The American Society of the same name was repro-
bated by Prof. William James, Prof. Jastrow, and Mr. Riley (Dele-
0Ke of the United States to the Exhibition). M. Marillier, one of
ft Secretaries of the Congress, is also Secretary for France to our
fcoety. Many men well known in Medicine, Psychology, Physiology,
J other branches of Science were present. Among them were
H Ballet, Bernheim (Nancy), Binet, Bourru (Rochefort), Carus,
mkwaky (Kharkoff), Dejerine, Delbceuf (Liege), Drill (Moscow)
172 Inteimational Congress of [Svpptarat
Espinas (Bordeaux), Ferrari, Fontan (Toulon), Forel (Zurich), Galton,
Grote (Moscow), Pierre Janet (Havre), Jules Janet, Lapotine
(Moscow), Liegeois (Nancy), Lombroso (Turin), Miinsterberg, Neiglick
(Helsingfors), von Schrenk-Notzing (Munich), Ploix, de Bochas
(Tours), Seglas, Tokarsky (Moscow), and de Varigny.
The proceedings were opened on August 6th by an address from
Prof. Ribot, who worthily filled the chair in Dr. Charcot's absence.
He dwelt with justifiable exultation on the recent abundant and varied
development of psychological studies — in the direction in which he
has himself been a pioneer and a leader — and pointed out how this
development, tending as it does to substitute a partially objective and
physiological for a purely subjective and introspective method, has
caused the need of mutual explanation among psychologists to be more
strongly felt. He concluded by expressing a hope that this Inter-
national Congress of Psychologists would be the first of a series of
similar meetings.
The Secretary — Prof. Ch. Richet — then proceeded to sketch briefly
the task marked out for the Congress. He explained that among the
questions proposed for discussion there were three that especially
demanded " collective " work. Among these he placed first the statis-
tical inquiry into Hallucinations, mentioning the work that had been .
already done in this department by the Society for Psycliical Research,
and especially by Mr. Gurney, " dont la science deplore la mort prema-
turee." He dwelt on the importance of concentrated effort to establish,
if it be possible to establish, by precise and trustworthy testimony, the
fact of coincidental or " veridical " hallucinations, before proceeding to
frame hypo theses to explain the fact. On this point he thought the
Congress would be unanimous.
After speaking of the question of Heredity, as the second subject
calling for collective effort, he went on to the third, " qui passionne
aujourd'hui tous les psychologues,11 the question of Hypnotism. He
expressed a hope that the rivalry between the schools of the SalpStriere
and of Nancy would soon be a thing of the past ; dwelt on the need of
introducing more precision into the terminology of Hypnotism ; and
pointed out that the proper business of the Congress was not to solve
questions — which can only be done by the labour of individual experi-
ment ei*s — but, by free mutual communication of the results of such
labour, both to obtain a clear view of the questions already solved, and
to mark out lines of future study.
The Congress then divided for its morning meetings into four sub-
sections, dealing respectively with Hallucinations, Heredity, Hypnotism,
and the Muscular Sense. A fifth section dealing with " Coloured
Audition," or the mental association between certain sounds and certain
colours, was formed in the course of the proceedings.
Eocperimental Psychology. 173
The section on the study of Hallucinations met on August 7th, and
discussed the question whether the sanction of the Congress should be
invited for a further prosecution of the Census of Hallucinations, <fcc.,
as already set on foot by Prof. Sidgwick in England and France,
and by the American Society for Psychical Research in the United
States; or whether some modification of the scheme was desirable.
Prof. Pierre Janet, Dr. Ballet (the well-known author of Le
Langage IntJrieur), and others urged that the hallucinations of the
insane or hysterical should be studied and recorded along with the
casual or unique hallucinations of sane and healthy persons. It was
agreed that information of this kind also should be collected, but that
the "census-paper" should be adopted practically as it stood, with
one or two verbal modifications. A report to this effect was presented
by M. Marillier to the Congress on the same afternoon, and some
further discussion followed. Prof. Pelbceuf, of Liege, recommended that
special note should be taken as to the mental habit, — " visual, audile,
or motile," — of the subjects of hallucinations of each of these types,
with which Mr. Galton and others have made the world of science
familiar.
The resolution to continue the statistical inquiry on its present lines
was then agreed to without any dissentients.
Prof. Grote, of Moscow, M. Marillier, Prof. James, and Prof.
Sidgwick were afterwards designated by the Committee of Organisa-
tion to superintend the work in their respective countries.
A " questionnaire " for wide circulation was also adopted by the
section on Heredity, which met under the presidency of Mr. Galton,
— who subsequently presented to the Congress a very interesting report
on the chief questions in this department that appear to admit
of experimental solution through co-operative work. On the motion
of Prof. Gruber, of Roumania, the section on Coloured Audition
adopted a similar method for collecting information. The section on
Hypnotism was, as had been expected, the most largely attended. We
give a brief account of some of the speeches.
The Committee on Hypnotism met first on Wednesday morning,
August 7th. Prof. Delbceup (of Liege) was elected chairman for
the day, and Prof. Ch. Richet introduced the discussion on the
terms that had best be used in hypnotic description. Along with M.
Brissaud he had drawn up definitions of many of the chief words, and
he wished further suggestions and discussion, especially on " Hypno-
tism," "Animal Magnetism," and "Somnambulism." "Hypnotism" was
a word introduced by Braid, and might be defined as an artificially pro-
duced somnambulism (somnambulisme provoqud). "Somnambulism"
they proposed to define as a condition analogous to sleep, but differing
from it in retaining more signs of external impressions (^ persistans de
174 International Congress of [s«ppk«*t.
quelques phtnomenes de la vie de relation), and differing also from the
normal waking state by showing an alteration of personality and a
complete loss of memory. It might be natural or artificially induced.
When natural it was a pathological condition, commonest in young
subjects, and coming on, as a rule, during normal sleep. It might be
artificially induced by some ill-defined manipulation which was called
" magnetic/1 or by suggestion, or by some physical action such as gazing
at a bright body, or more often by some combination of these causes.
" Animal Magnetism " was a term which was not accurately defined in
common use, but which could be used for all the agencies which bring
on somnambulism ; for example, the " passes " that were sometimes
called " magnetic." Magnetism used to be considered an exact term in
the 16th and 17 th centuries when applied to both plants and animals,
and it very nearly corresponded then to what was now called action at
a distance.
In the discussion that followed on the definition of these terms, MM.
Bernheim, Forel, Espinas, Liegeois, Ch. Richet, and Delbeeuf took an
active part, but it was found that an exact emendation of any such
difficult phrases as these definitions could not be reached by as large a
gathering as about 40 members of this Committee. Prof. Bernheim
vigorously expressed his opinion that our knowledge of Animal
Magnetism and Hypnotism was as yet too imperfect to allow of our fixing
their limits exactly ; he was himself inclined to keep the term Animal
Magnetism for historic use as describing the phenomena of a past
generation ; to employ Hypnotism as a newer word to cover a large area
as yet imperfectly known, and which it would be premature to define
exactly, but which did not necessarily imply any condition of sleep ;
and to restrict Somnambulism to a condition analogous to sleep and pro-
duced by suggestion or hypnotism. Prof. Liegeois wished to give
up the use of " Animal Magnetism " in any accurate discussion, as
being a term based on an old mistake. After some further debate a
decided majority of the Committee voted against the use of
" Hypnotism " and " Animal Magnetism " as synonymous terms.
A short discussion on Automatism led quickly to philosophical
difficulties and was not pressed to a division. The proposed definition
of a subject under Suggestion was that he could not resist the idea
or act suggested. Prof. Bernheim, with whom MM. Liegeois and
Forel substantially agreed, protested against the assumption of a
natural resistance to suggestion which was implied in this definition,
but no exact alteration in the form of words was agreed upon.
Thursday morning, August 8th. M. Ballet in the chair.
M. Ociiorowicz read a paper on " La Sensibilite* Hypnotique."
There were some people in the world, he said, who were not hypnotisable;
Experimental Psychology. 175
hat was a fact which was admitted by all. It led to the question,
rhat qualities made a man a good or a bad subject ? His aptitude
night be shown in various ways, of which there were at least four
rhich might be clearly distinguished, viz. : (i.) the readiness with
rhich he could be hypnotised ; (ii.) the depth of sleep which could be
obtained; (iii.) his greater or less sensitiveness to suggestions, and
iv.) the delicate variations and elaborate character of the symptoms.
Hiis aptitude seemed to be innate and hereditary. Statistics on
this point were wanted. Was it to be called a disease, a morbid
iiathesis, or simply one form sui generis of the nervous tem-
perament? Was there any connection between this hypnotic
sensibility and hysteria, anaemia, <fcc. ? Were any perfectly healthy
people hypnotisable ? It was generally admitted that by being
frequently hypnotised the subjects became more sensitive, but it
was not determined whether there were other ways by which this
might be brought about, and whether any degree of unsusceptibility
might be overcome by patient and repeated trial. There were further
questions as to the influence of race, sex, and social position on the
susceptibility to hypnotism and the ready diagnosis of good subjects
bom external signs. He showed a hypnoscope which he had himself
brought into use. It consisted of a short and broad bar magnet bent
into a circular form so as to fit one of the fingers. When it had been
worked on one finger for a few minutes it was often found that that
finger was stiff and to some extent anaesthetic. In his opinion that
symptom was co-extensive with susceptibility to hypnotism and might
be accepted as a valid test, whether it was due to any magnetic
influence or only to suggestion.
Prof. Charles Richet hoped that the important questions
raised would meet with full discussion, and remarked that in his expe-
rience he had found some hysterical subjects not hypnotisable, and
certainly also many hypnotisable who were not hysterical.
Prof. Bernheim said he had found nearly all persons hypnotisable;
but some hysterical subjects were very difficult to hypnotise and some
who were not hysterical were most easily hypnotised. He had found
hypnotism possible at all ages ; it was on the whole more difficult in
the educated classes than the uneducated, as there was more personal
reserve and self-control in them.
Prof. Charles Richet considered the French and Italians as
particularly hypnotisable races, though many further observations were
wanted on that and similar points, and agreed with M. Bernheim as to
the greater susceptibility of the uneducated classes.
Prof. Delbceuf had found about 75 per cent, of almost all classes
in Belgium hypnotisable ; colonels and generals as well as the lower
176 International Congress of [Supplement.
Prof. H. Si dg wick said he should like to ask as a "preliminary
question in this discussion whether we had good grounds for considering
all hypnotisers of equal power ?
Prof. Forel (of Zurich) remarked that he had not found any
difficulty, after a few weeks' practice, in hypnotising about 85 per
cent, of the Swiss on whom he tried; and he understood that
Wetterstrand in Sweden had found no greater difficulty with 4,000
subjects, and Van Eeden also in Amsterdam. The hypnoscopic test
had not been found satisfactory in some Russian experiments.
Prof. Charles Richet said that Prof. Sidgwick's question stood
much in need of an answer which it was not easy to furnish. The
magnetisers of a previous generation had certainly had a strong
opinion that the hypnotising power was much greater in some indi-
viduals than in others. In his own experience he was inclined to think
he had himself less capacity for hypnotising now than he had had
some 20 years ago. It seemed to him to be not a loss of authority but
of influence. He could give no reason for it, and personal power was
to him a problem of the very greatest complexity. M. Tarclianoff had
very recently exhibited at the Societe* de Biologie some very delicate
electrical experiments which went to show that a sensitive galvanometer
revealed an alteration in a man's electric condition according as he
thought of the left hand or the right. If there was a perceptible
electrophysical change produced in this way it was not impossible that
in hypnotism one agent might be perceptibly different from another in
his physical influence.
Mr. F. W. H. Myers described an experiment which had been
devised by Mr. Gurney and repeatedly tried upon a sensitive subject
(F. Wells) at Brighton to test the difference of his reaction to different
individuals without any opportunity of suggestion by the ordinary paths
of sense. The subject was placed behind a tall screen so as to shut
him oft' entirely from the experimenters and his hands passed through
the screen and spread out on a table in front of him. No contact or
talk was allowed. Over one finger Mr. Smith, who had often hypno-
tised the subject, held his hand at the distance of an inch or more ; the
other observers held their hands over other fingers in an exactly similar
manner. In nearly every case it was found that anaesthesia and
rigidity were produced in the finger over which was Mr. Smith's hand
and not in the others. Great care had been taken to eliminate
suggestion, and the nearly uniform result pointed to some specific
personal influence.
Prof. Delbceuf related a case in which he had found the delicacy
of the sense of touch so greatly increased in a hypnotised subject that
she had been able to distinguish every card in the pack by touch alone.
He attributed the results Mr. Myers had described to a similar
Experimental Psychology. 177
hyperacuity of feeling which had enabled the subject to tell one hand
from another at a distance.
Mb. Myers observed that in the experiments he had mentioned they
had tested the subject's hands in other ways for hyperesthesia, but had
found none.
M. Gilbert Ballet was nevertheless inclined to attribute the
results to an abnormally developed capacity of distinguishing the tem-
peratures of different hands which were not in actual contact.
Prof. Bernheim thought that the electrical changes Prof. Richet had
mentioned would be explained by the unconscious muscular contraction
accompanying the thought of one hand or the other.
Prof. Richet replied that muscular contraction would not be an
explanation of the electrical change ; it was more possible that it might
be due to an influence of attention on the sweat glands.
Friday morning, August 9th. Prof. Bernheim in the chair.
After a short paper by M. Alliot attempting to connect the vary-
ing conditions of hypnotism with the electrical conditions of the human
body, the discussion was continued by M. Ochorowicz, who expressed
bis opinion that the phenomena of hypnotism were not all explicable
by suggestion only, for instance, in the case of infants and animals.
He thought that there was more power in magnets than could be
explained by suggestion. He had himself observed that motions which
did not convey any suggestion had definite effects ; for example, trans-
Terse passes over the arm of a hypnotised subject diminished its strength
whilst longitudinal passes increased it.
Prof. Ch. Richet proposed to classify all the states characterised
by an alteration of personal qualities under three headings, viz. : (1)
spontaneous conditions, normal and pathological, such as sleep, som-
nambulism, <fcc; (2) conditions artificially induced, either by suggestion,
which had been shown capable of producing both mental and physical
change, or by physical influences, such as those of magnets or electrical
conditions, which it was at present very difficult to estimate conclu-
sively and to divide accurately from suggestion. In addition to these
there were (3) the further influences of action at a distance, telepathy, and
• mental suggestion, the proofs of which were not by any means univer-
/ aally regarded as satisfactory. Their science was at present embryonic,
and hardly ripe for discussion, though it needed careful attention.
Prof. Forel thought it very possible that the results of M. Ochoro-
wicz's experiments might have been obtained by unconscious suggestion
from the acts, expression, and gestures of the agent. It was difficult
to limit the amount of meaning that might be unconsciously hidden
in these without words. He was not at all wishing to deny tele-
pathy, but he could not admit that M. Ochorowicz had proved it.
/
178 International Congress of [Supplement
Prof. H. Sidgwick hoped that their attention might be recalled
to three conditions where he thought suggestion might be excluded,
viz. : (1) experiments with animals, (2) with babies, and (3) at a
distance.
Prof. Bernheim said there were two theories on these points ; the
first was that of suggestion, which he maintained himself, and the
second that of the " fluidists " who were there represented by M. Ochoro-
wicz, who maintained some further action on the person than by the
brain of the percipient. That he regarded as possible, but at present
unproved. The passes and staring at a bright object brought in some
points of suggestion of sleep, by quiet and by tiring the eyes. He did
not wish to deny the effects of some similar actions, but he interpreted
them by suggestion. In animals he regarded the state produced as one
of catalepsy, and similar to the condition of men occasionally seen in
some very exhausting diseases, such as typhoid fever. With some babies
still at the breast M. Li£beault had considerable influence in stopping
pain and digestive discomfort by laying his hand on their stomachs, or
even, he believed, by bathing them with magnetised water, or, indeed,
any water. How soon children might become susceptible to some sug-
gestion it was hard to say ; it might be when they were a day old, very
probably before they were a month.
M. Gilbert Ballet was surprised by the use of the word sugges-
tion for what the experimenter did not expect. If there was always a
psychical process to be called suggestion between the physical agent
which brought on sleep, and the sleep resulting from it, he would ask
what it consisted in when sleep was produced by a sudden loud noise
or bright light.
Prof. Bernheim replied that in these cases there was a fresh
awakening of previous suggestions.
Prof. Pierre Janet cited two cases where sleep was so produced
on a first trial.
Prof. Bernheim was inclined, if the subjects had never before
heard any report of this plan, to call the cases catalepsy, and to
doubt the truly hypnotic character of the results.
Prof. Charles Riciiet had been much interested in the discus-
sion of the limits of suggestion. If the use of the word was confined
to its ordinary moaning he thought that important as its agency might
be in the results of hypnotism it certainly was not the sole cause.
Prof. Danilewsky (of Kharkoff) then went on to read his paper on
the study of Hypnotism in Aninmls. He had obtained hypnotic results
in a long list of animals, going upwards from the shrimp, the crab, the
lobster, the sepia, to several fishes (among them the cod, the brill, the
torpedo-fish), the tadpole, the frog, the lizard, the crocodile, the serpen^
the tortoise, several birds, the guinea pig, and the rabbit. He had
Supplement] Experimental Psychology. 179
generally found it sufficient to place the animal in some abnormal
position, e.g., on its back, and keep it quiet with slight continuous
pressure. Under these conditions it soon fell into a condition of loss
of voluntary movement, and anaesthesia of the skin and mucous mem-
branes, so that, for example, after a time the artificial stoppage of its
means of respiration did not excite any appropriate resistance, and the
appearance at the same time of some spasms and convulsive movements
gave the action the character of an emotional struggle. Repeated
hypnotisation lessened the resistance of the animals, so that they
became more and more susceptible. In some of the animals and birds
if injury was done to the semi-circular canals in the ear so that in-
voluntary circular motion naturally followed, it was found possible to
stop this so long as they were hypnotised. When the animal woke from
hypnotism and changed its position the circular motion began
again. There were two conditions which it was necessary to
distinguish: (1) Catalepsy, which was a condition of arrest of volun-
tary movements and of anaesthesia, and was generally brought
on by strong and painful external stimulus ; and (2) Hypnotism, which
was induced without violent stimulus. The anaesthesia of hypnotism
and the emotions of hypnotism were the result of the inhibitory power
of the brain ; and if the brain was taken away these results disappeared
also. External constraint provoked in an animal a feeling of inability to
defend itself and a paralysis of the will followed. That was the first
condition for inducing the phenomena of hypnotism in animals and
men. Animals got their feeling of irresistible coercion from their skin
and their bodily cases ; men from psychical causes. Verbal suggestion
to a man was analogous to bodily suggestion to an animal from the
hands of a hypnotiser.
Saturday Morning. August 10th. Prop. Espinas in the chair.
M. Babinski was called upon by the Chairman to explain the views
of the school of the SalpetrLfere upon hypnotism, and began by remark-
ing that these views had been recently put into print l and supplied
some answers to the objections raised by the school of Nancy. M.
Charcot had studied hypnotism in hystero-epileptic patients alone,
because he found in them good types for study. He did not deny that
hypnotism might be observed in other patients, and that the pheno-
mena observable in the hystero-epileptics might not be observable in
all others. Suggestion was admitted by the Parisian observers to
be important, but not to be the only source of the hypnotic phenomena.
If a patient who was unacquainted with medical facts and entirely
ignorant of hypnotism showed when hypnotised the contractures which
1 Grand et Petit Hypnotisms Archives de Neurologie. 1888, *Sc*. 4&-3A.
180 International Congress of [Sappiament.
belonged to the lethargic state, although the hypnotiser had given him
no hint whatever by word or gesture, it could not be said that sugges-
tion was the cause. Why should the characteristic muscular state be
contracture rather than paralysis, tremor, or any other symptom ? And
after M.Bernheim had produced hypnotic sleep as he said by suggestion
why did he find anaesthesia which he had not suggested ? Why did
pressure produce contracture in the lethargic state and not in the
cataleptic ? It had been objected that the three consecutive states
which M. Charcot had described, — the lethargic, the cataleptic, and the
somnambulic, — were themselves the result of suggestion. But even if
that were possible it would not explain their occurrence in the first cases
where they were observed. It was said that they had only been found
at the Salpetriere, but some similar observations had been made by
Tamburini, Seppilli, Vizioli, David, and Ladame. Hypnotism he re-
garded as a pathological and not a physiological state, and in character
allied to hysteria, for (1) they had certain symptoms in common, (2) the
stages of hypnotism were like the stages of the hysterical attack, and
(3) there was an interdependence between hypnotism and hysteria such
as was seen with some other conditions intimately related. The results
of M. Charcot's experiments on hysterical patients which had been
published in 1882 had not lost any of their truth or value.
Pkof. Lombroso (of Turin) had tried hypnotism on seventy persons
in Bologna. He had produced a truly hypnotic state in only a few
persons, in all of whom there was some morbid nervous condition,
but had noticed what he should prefer to call credulity in many of
the lower classes.
Prof. Espinas (of Bordeaux) had observed that whilst suggestion
was used without restriction at Nancy, nevertheless, at the Salpetriere
it was said to be very rarely tried, for fear of causing an attack of
hvsteria. Was that fear well founded ?
Prof. Forel considered it possible to make some patients hysterical
by hypnotism, but that was only when very wide limits were allowed
to that vague word " hysteria," and when hypnotism was used for a
long time with the special attempt of producing it. There could be no
doubt that when hypnotism was fairly used on a large number of people
it- was found that it was not confined to, or, indeed, much helped by
hysterical temperaments.
M. Babixski admitted that he had not had the opportunity of
studying the effects of hypnotism widely on non-hysterical persons.
Prof. Pikrrk Janet (of Le Havre) did not think that to be
hypnotisable was in the least a proof of being hysterical. It was
rather a sign of mental and moral weakness, of an incapacity of fixed
attention ; and from such incapacity, which he considered a definite
disease (maladie) arose the anaesthesia which was to be found both
supplement] E.vperimental Psychology. 181
in hysteria and hypnotism. In his own trials of hypnotism he had
succeeded in about 80 per cent.
Prop. Forel had himself succeeded in about 60 or 70 per cent.
of cases when he began to practise hypnotism, and in a large number of
people who had no such disease as Prof. Janet described, but were per-
fectly healthy. After more practice he had succeeded in as many as
90 per cent., and he came to the conclusion that fatigue was a con-
dition which rendered the subjects more susceptible. With the insane
he had found hypnotism extremely difficult.
"Prof. Charles Richet protested against the word "disease" which
Prof. Janet had made use of for conditions which, even supposing they
were not the most absolutely normal, would certainly not be included in
what a doctor would understand by disease. And for his own part he
thought some hypnotisable people were absolutely normal.
Prof. Delbceuf quite agreed with Prof. Richet on this point. To
be hypnotisable depended on attention, not on disease. He had found
himself able to arrest salivation by self-suggestion when under the
hands of a dentist ; and one of the necessary conditions in his own
case was the capacity of concentrating his attention, not that in-
capacity of fixed attention that Prof. Janet had spoken of. As to
the SalpStriere phenomena, he observed that after he had himself first
visited the Salpetriere he found that his own subjects manifested
those phenomena. But when he had learnt from the writings of the
Nancy school that these contractures, <fec., did not necessarily occur,
they ceased to occur in his own subjects.
M. Ochorowicz said his experience during about twenty years for
which he had practised hypnotism had shown him that the insane were
the most difficult of all subjects. The susceptibility to hypnotism he
had found persistent through middle and elder life, a point in which it
differed markedly from hysteria.
Saturday afternoon, August 10th. Prof. Delbceuf in the chair.
Mr. F. W. H. Myers described some experiments which he and
other members of the Society for Psychical Research had made to
test the possibilities of thought-transference when the recognised
means of communication through the senses were cut off. The subject
was a healthy person who was hypnotised and between whom and the
experimenter a screen was in many cases placed. The experimenter
then drew a counter on which was written a number of two figures
from a large collection of these in a bag, and observing very strict
conditions in detail, he fixed his attention on it, asking the subject
to let him know if by any means he became acquainted with it.
The answer was not correct in every case, but the total number of
correct answers in a very long series of experiments was so vastly
182 International Congress.
greater than would have been the result of chance, which under these
conditions could be mathematically calculated, that he could not doubt
that there was some other agency at work, which was neither fraud nor
chance but thought-transference.
Pbof. Charles Richbt knew well the experiments described by Mr-
Myers, and had himself made some others which led to a similar result.
8uch experiments, he thought, should be repeated widely and with the
greatest care, for if the proof of thought-transference to which they
led could be established, without a doubt it would be one of the
greatest discoveries of our time.
Pbof. Sidgwick remarked that results of a similar character had
been obtained with subjects in a normal condition as well as in
hypnotism. At the same time the experiments of himself and his
colleagues seemed to show that success was rather more likely to be
obtained in the hypnotic than in the normal state. He entirely agreed
in the view that more experiments were urgently required.
Pbof. Delbcbuf had paid some attention to these phenomena, but had
not been able to satisfy himself of any similar results in experiments
of his own. He had been struck with a remarkable power in those
who had been deeply hypnotised of making an exact estimate of time,
and had noticed many post-hypnotic suggestions carried out exactly to
the minute after an interval of several hours.
After some discussion as to the date and place of the next meeting,
it was unanimously agreed that the next reunion of the Congress
should be held in England early in August, 1892.
It is hoped that a Committee of Reception may be formed in Eng-
land before that date ; but in the meantime a Committee of Organisa-
tion was appointed, which is to meet about Christmas, 1891, and
consider the subjects to be proposed for discussion at the Congress. It
is hoped that a programme of these subjects may be printed in Eng-
lish, French, and German, some months before the Congress actually
re-assembles.
1 Report on the Census of Hallucinations.
183
IL
AD INTERIM REPORT ON THE CENSUS OF
HALLUCINATIONS,
Up to October 4#ft, 1889.
In England the whole number of answers received is :
"No."
"Yea,"
Total*
From men
1181
1382
2
112
251
1293
1633
2
From women
Unstated
Total
2565
363
2928
Percentage of "Yeses," 12*4.
Of the persons answering " Tes " 64 have as yet sent no particulars.
113 persons have had more than one experience, either the same
repeated more than once, or different experiences.
The experiences recorded may be classified as follows :
A. — Experiences Affecting More Than One Sense.
•
Coinci-
dental.
Non-Coincidental.
Represent-
ing a Living
Person.
Represent-
ing a Dead
Person.
Unrecog-
nised.
Totals.
Yuma] and AnrlitorV
4
1
1
1
1
1
7
2
1
4
3
1
1
16
Visual and Tactile
7
Anditorv and Tactile
3
*
Vi»nal, Auditory, and Tactile
2
Total number of Cases...
6
3
10
9
28
»}«
184
184 Ad Interim Report on the
B. — Experiences Affecting One Sense Only.
I.— Visual.
1. Coincidental —
€£• XvwvO«TIj11£H>U. ••• ••• ••• • • • • • • • • • •••
b. Unrecognised
2. Non-coincidental —
a. Human apparitions :
a. Of living people
j3. Of dead people ... ... ...
y. Unrecognised ...
d. Of an arm or hand ...
b. Non-human apparitions :
a. Of animals ... ... ... ... ... ... 7\ <>»
ft. Of inanimate objects 18/
A OVckl. ••• ••• ■•• ••• ••• ••• 4&J%9
24 of these are said to have been collective experiences ; viz., 2 coinci-
dental cases (1 recognised and 1 unrecognised) 4 apparitions of the living, 2
of the dead, 16 of unrecognised human beings, and 1 of an inanimate object.
In the above table 30 cases in which the percipient had more than one
experience, but did not describe them singly, are counted each as one case.
II.— Auditory (Voices).
1. Coincidental —
a. Recognised ... ... ... ... ... ... .. ^\fi2
b. Unrecognised ... ... ... ... ... *>J
2. Non-coincidental —
a. Trivial and often repeated experiences, generally of thel
name being called, sometimes recognised and some-}- 43'
times not ... ... ... ... ... ... • • • J
6. Recognised. Of Living Persons :
a. Calls or voices
/3. Name called on two occasions
y. Short conversation ...
o. dentences ... ... ... ... ... ...
€. Familiar words and phrases
I* K^xJIJIflt «•• ••• •■■ •»■ ••■ • • • » •
c Recognised. Of Dead persons :
a. Calls or voices ... ... ... ... ... 7
/3. Calls twice repeated 1^ 9
y. Sentence ... ... ... ... ... ... 1
d. Unrecognised :
a. Calls or voices
/3. Calls twice repeated
y. Sentences
8. Counting
€. Crooning a tune
(. Music and faint voices
j. o Lai ... ... ... <• ... . . . i iv
6 of these are said to have been collective experiences ; viz., 2 coincidental
cases of the name being called (the voice being recognised in one case and
not in the other), 2 recognised living cases (1 call and 1 song), 1 trivial
experience and 1 unrecognised case (crooning a tune).
15
}
93
svppteoMnt] Census of HalltLcinations. 185
III. —Tactile
1. Coincidental —
a. Recognised
b. Unrecognised ...
2. Non-coincidental —
a. Recognised touch of Living person :
a. Single touch ...
0. Recurring touches
b. Recognised touch of Dead person :
a. Single touch
0. Recurring touches
r. Unrecognised :
a. Frequent touches
0. Touch, &c, once
»
in
22
::: i?}17
X O will ... ... ... ... ... mrX
One case of a single unrecognised touch is said to have been collective,
one percipient seeing a form while the other felt a touch.
In this analysis no account is taken of morbid conditions which undoubtedly
existed in some cases, being indeed explicitly mentioned occasionally. But
the great majority of the percipients were, according to their own statements,
in a perfectly normal and healthy condition at the time of their experiences.
Also no attempt has been made as yet to make more than a rough estimate
of the possibilities of error in the accounts through defects of memory of
mistakes of inference. In particular, the probability of the figure seen
being a real human being, or the sound heard a real human voice, in some of
the collective cases requires to be carefully examined.
As regards other countries than England, we heard in August that about
2.000 answers had already been collected in America, and Mons. Marillier
reports in October that he had received 633 answers from France and
Switzerland as follows :
" No.M " Yea." TotaL
From men 366 57 423
From women 161 49 210
Total 527 106 633
He had received as yet no particulars from about 50 of the persons
answering yes. Among the remainder, 24 of the experiences are said to
have been veridical.
The enquiry has also been commenced in Germany, but not yet in Russia
nor in Italy.
I may remind my readers that a report on the census is to be made to the
International Congress of Experimental Psychology in 1892, and that we
should like by that time to have 50,000 answers. Further assistance in
collecting is urgently needed, and I shall be glad to correspond with any
one willing to help in the work.
Henry Sidgwick.
186 Professor Pierre Janet's [SappkiMBt.
III.
PROFESSOR PIERRE JANET'S "AUTOMATISME
PSYCHOLOGIQUE."1
By Frederic W. H. Myers.
The name of Professor Pierre Janet has long been familiar to the readers
of these Proceedings. We have been amongst the first and warmest
appreciators of the remarkable articles in the Reims Philosophiquc in which
he has for several years past recounted the results of a series of experiments
on human automatism, &c., seldom surpassed for care in observation and
acumen in interpretation. We shall, therefore, be prepared to join cordially
in the welcome which French savants are now extending to M. Janet's
ihhe presentee a la Facvltdde lettres a Paris under the title of IS Automatism*
Psychologique, "an essay in experimental psychology upon the inferior forms
of human activity." This book contains the gist of the above-mentioned
articles, and much more besides ; and we consider that it at once places
M. Janet in a front rank of experimental psychologists. It ought, we
think, to be translated into English and other languages, and studied by all
who are interested in researches of this kind.
But when a book is so full of new observations and reflections as this
book is, — and observations in so difficult a domain, — it is not by mere general
expressions of praise that we shall show it the truest respect. Its greatest
merit is that it opens new paths ; and in a new path we may walk side by
side like explorers rather than follow in a leader's steps like sheep. Much
of the book is occupied with criticism, — reasonable and effective criticism, —
on views which have been set forth in these Proceedings ; and much of our
limited space must be given to an answer to those criticisms, — such answer
as we make to an opponent whom we desire not to confute but to persuade.
The work begins in a manner unusual in psychological treatises, but, in
our view, strictly logical. " Total automatism " is the title of the first part,
and "Isolated psychological phenomena" of the first chapter. What is
implied in these titles is the new, the experimental method of getting at the
simplest beginnings of human consciousness and intelligence. No merely
imaginary or metaphorical simplicity, such as Condillac's " breathing statue,"
can be a really simple notion, or afford a true basis on which to upbuild our
conceptions of gradually developing personality.
Dr. Hughlings-Jackson (with whose works, little known in France,
M. Janet does not seem to be acquainted) has taken coma as representing a
"lowest level of evolution," and has traced the operation of nerve-centres
at different levels as they come into prominence at successive stages of the
dissolnti-ve process of an epileptic explosion. What we want to produce
and watch, however, is of course not the catastrophe, but the evolution
of the psychical cosmos ; — not the breaking down of one set of reservoirs
1 IS Automativme Psychologiquc, par Pierre Janet. (Paris: Alcan, 1889, pp. 496).
"Avtomatisme Paychologique*1 187
of nerve-force after another, but the gradual calling into operation of higher
and higher connections. And M. Janet is right, I think, in taking the
condition of hypnotic catalepsy as the lowest starting-point which can be
safely reproduced in practice. Judging both from external indications and
from that memory of cataleptic attitudes which sometimes persists into a
somnambulic state, the cataleptic subject is in that condition of impersonal
consciousness which we must suppose to exist in the animal and in the
infant, and which is occasionally experienced and even remembered by the
adult, on his recovery from amBsthetisation by drugs, or from a profound
fainting-fit. Professor Herzen's description of this latter experience deserves
quoting here, for it gives us probably a more vivid notion of " total automa-
tism " than any mere observation from outside could afford.
44 During the faint," he says, " it is absolute psychical nonentity, com-
plete absence of consciousness ; then one begins to have a vague, unlimited,
infinite feeling, — a feeling of existence in general without any delimitation of
one's own individuality, without the least trace of a distinction between the
I and the not-I ; one is then an organic portion of nature, having conscious-
ness of the fact of one's existence, but no consciousness of the fact of one's
organic unity ; one has, in two words, an impersonal consciousness : —
sensations which, from the mere fact that they remain isolated cannot be
known, but only felt."
By hypnotic catalepsy is here meant a state in which there is no initiative
of movement, but in which an attitude or a movement can be impressed from
without upon the subject, — who will inevitably retain the attitude, or repeat
and complete the movement. Imagining this state from within, and from a
psychological standpoint, — a task which M. Janet has faced more boldly than
any predecessor, — we reach the following conclusions (p. 66) : 4< Many
sensations and images are accompanied by a bodily movement and cannot
exist without producing it ; every sensation or image persists in the con-
sciousness until another phenomenon occurs to efface it ; every sensation or
emotion tends to develop and complete itself, and to manifest itself by
appropriate acts."
In the cataleptic subject we witness the play of these isolated sensations
and images, not yet collected and correlated under the conception of a central
personality.
Here, then, we have a starting-point ; what are the next stages on the
upward road ? From the cataleptic state (it would be usually said) we rise
to the somnambulic, and from the somnambulic to the waking condition.
But note that our conception of the somnambulic state, — what used to be
* called 44 the mesmeric trance," — is gradually undergoing development, as
more prolonged experiments are made. When this state was only maintained
(as by the earliest mesmerisers) for a few minutes or hours, attention was
naturally directed to its first or superficial aspects, — the habitual anaesthesia, —
the rapport with the mesmeriser only, — the readiness to receive suggestions, —
and, of course, the alternation of memory, and forgetfulness on waking.
Further experience has shown that the phenomena of anaesthesia and of
rapport are by no means uniform, and that suggestibility is by no means
confined to the somnambulic state, but often exists in waking subjects. We
are, in fact, obliged to admit that there is no one phenomenon which invariably
188 Professor Pierre Janet9 s [Snppkment
characterises the somnambulic state ; and that all we can say is that the
subject is not quite the same as in the waking state, and that there is
generally a more or less complete forgetfulness in the waking state of what
has passed in the " trance."
Tli ere is, I think, a wider conclusion to be drawn from these facts than M.
Janet has attempted. But before indicating that conclusion I must note the
extremely ingenious observation which our author has made as regards one at
least of the conditions accompanying and determining these somnambulic
changes of personality. M. Janet's experiments were made on 27 persons,
all of them hysterical, epileptic, or insane ; and although this limitation of
his experience to diseased subjects has, as we shall presently see, in some
ways much cramped his conceptions, it has also had the advantage of
concentrating his attention upon certain marked and extreme phenomena,
which previous observers had usually witnessed only in a fleeting or accidental
way. He noticed, then, in one of his subjects that there had been various
lacuna in her memory before she had ever been hypnotised, and that he
could not summon back the recollection of these periods even in her
somnambulic state. But this was a subject who passed through many forms
of somnambulism ; and in a new phase which she one day entered she
spontaneously gave an account of what had happened in those blank periods.
M. Janet naturally tried to discover whether this new somnambulism
possessed any special characteristic linking it with those previously un-
remembered periods in Rose's i>ast. He found that, — whereas in ordinary
life and in all previous somnambulisms she was wholly anesthetic, — yet both
in this new somnambulism and in those blank periods of life she was only
hemi-amesthetic, — having recovered tactile and muscular sensibility on the
right side. Other observations followed, — some of them of a very delicate
and ingenious kind, — and M. Janet came to the conclusion (p. 109) " that the
alternating memory of somnambules is due to a periodical modification,
whether spontaneous or induced, in the state of their sensibility, and,
consequently, in the nature of the images which serve as the basis for
complex psychological phenomena, and esi>ecially for language. This
modification finds place particularly in subjects more or less aniesthetic in
their normal state, and then consists in the temporary restoration of a certain
category of images of which the subjects in their ordinary state have lost
possession. " Thus — adopting the distinctions with which Mr. Galton
has made us familiar, — Leonie is a insital in her waking state, an audiU in
her second state (Le\>ntine, now termed Leonie II.), and a motile in her
third state (Leonore, now termed Ldonie III.). Each set of images forms a
chain of memory of its own, and the transition from the predominant use
of one set of images to the predominant use of another necessarily involves
a certain change of personality.
These remarks appear to me to suggest an important field of observation.
They do not, indeed, cover the whole ground ; for there are abundant cases
of alternating memory where the subject presents no appreciable change in
mental habits of the kind here insisted on. And I may add that M. Janet's
observations, — in which states of hemi-aniesthesia play no small part, — seem
to me to add confirmation to my own view (Proceedings, Vol. III., pp. 43 and
99) that alterations in the predominance of one or other cerebral hemisphere
suppfcuMmt] "Automatisme Psychologique" 189
have something to do with these changes of personality, of which automatic
writing is now recognised as one of the most instructive manifestations. I
can scarcely understand why M. Janet disapproves of this view (p. 415),
which seems to me entirely consistent with his own, and which was in fact
based in part upon the very same observations. M. Janet refers to Louis
Vive\ with his changes of character coinciding with the shifting or disappear-
ance of hysterical paralyses. 1 also referred to that case ; and surely when
hemi-ansesthesia and hemiplegia are amongst the most marked of the
phenomena with which we are dealing, there is nothing fanciful in assuming
that there are coincidental changes in the equilibrium of the cerebral hemi-
spheres. The suggestion— which I owe to Dr. Ireland — that Spiegelschrift
may represent the word-vision of the right hemisphere, still seems to me
ingenious and probable ; and although M. Janet has never witnessed
Spiegelschrift among what he calls linn assez grand nombre de sujets," 1 must
venture to say that his score or so of writing subjects (for not all his 27
subjects wrote) is not for present purposes a sufficient number ; and that 1,
who have seen more writing subjects than M. Janet has — (though 1 am far
from asserting that I have observed them with care or skill to equal his) —
have witnessed this Spiegelschrift in a good many independent cases.
Unfortunately 1 cannot say in how many ; for while the inquiry was a mere
curiosity of my own, I regarded the incident as too common to need record ;
and now that the matter has become one of controversial interest, 1 am
afraid of suggesting my own view to any automatist with whom 1 am
concerned.
On one point M. Janet (who is very careful and accurate in his citations
from our Proceedings and other English sources) seems to base an objection
on a misconception (p. 415) of the phenomenon which I am describing. I
draw a parallel between the sufferer from verbal cecity and the writing
automatist who does not know what he has written, and who writes therefore
without the aid of the " word-picturing centres" of his left hemisphere.
Bf. Janet supposes that my automatist is partially anaesthetic — " le medium
n'a pas la sensation des mouvements." But he is not in any degree anaesthetic
in the cases to which I am alluding : he has the full sensation of the
movements, and he can sometimes guess by the movements what word he is
writing, although he has no mental vision of that word in his conscious
intelligence. My parallel is therefore a closer one than M. Janet has
supposed.
I should have some other rejoinders to make to the criticisms on
pp. 415-9. But the discussion may well be left until there are a good many
more observations to analyse. Automatic writing occurs, it is evident, under
more forms than any single observer has yet noted ; and the urgent matter is
to get experiments carefully made and recorded in milieux as different from
each other as can be contrived. Let us not lose the true independence of
each experiment by falling prematurely under the power of suggestion of any
one theory.1
1 It is to me a real disappointment, and I think that it is a real drawback to the
attainment of a complete view of the subject, that there should apparently be almost
no producible experiments now made by those who believe that these automatic writings
sometimes emanate from disembodied (or unembodied) minds. That there should be
190 Professor Piei^re Janet's [Supplement.
I now return to a statement of M. Janet's, already cited ; from which, as
I have said, it seems to me that conclusions much wider than his own may
fairly be drawn. He says, — and I fully concur, — that there is no specific
character which belongs to the "somnambulic state" in itself. "The
somnambulic state," he remarks, p. 125, "has only relative characters ; and
can be determined only in reference to another period of the subject's
existence, — the normal or waking state. . . . Somnambulism is a second
existence which lias no other character except that it i* the second."
Taken by themselves, and detached from their modifying context, these
very words might be used to express what I believe to be a profound truth, —
which a great part of M. Janet's book is employed in combating.
I believe, in short, that we have no right to go a whit beyond actual
observed facts in any judgment which we may pass as to the relative
superiority or " normality" of any of man's different states. I refuse to call
my actual waking state "normal " or "natural " in any sense except that of
habitual or ordinary. It has been shown that in a very large number of
persons, — many of whom (as Mr. Wingfield's Cambridge subjects1) are excel-
lent examples of health and vigour,— certain changes of memory, sensibility,
character, occur or can be induced, which in cases where they are carried
furthest amount to a profound — even a permanent — even a salutary —
modification of personality. Taking, then, myself as my example (lest I
offend my reader by supposing him capable of being changed for the better),
I cannot suppose that I am made on a different pattern from these men
simply because the empirical modes of inducing these changes, as thus far
discovered, happen to have no effect on me. I conclude that I simply do not
know of what modifications the stream of consciousness of which my organism
is the basis is potentially susceptible. I know this no more than I know of
what modifications the human germ is susceptible. Since the era of my
protozoic ancestors the germ which is now human has shown absolutely
unpredictable potentialities. Whatever bo the part which we assign to
external influences in its evolution, the fact remains that the germ possessed
the power of responding in an indefinite number of ways to an indefinite
number of stimuli. It was only the accident of its exposure to certain
stimuli and not to others which has made it what it now is. And having
shown itself bo far modifiable as to acquire these highly specialised senses
which I possess, it is doubtless still modifiable in directions as unthinkable to
me as my eyesight would have been unthinkable to the oyster. Nor can we
limit the rate of change, which, so far as cerebral modifications are con-
cerned, may probably be increasingly rapid as it has an increasingly complex
material to work on. All I can say is that I am a momentary link in a
chain of organisms perpetually changing in accordance with an unknown path
of evolution ; and my present conscious condition represents no norm what-
ever, but only the historical fact that my ancestors' actual mode of develop-
ment was sufficiently suited to their environment to keep them alive.
so many Spiritualistic journals in the world, and yet so few attempts either to prove
or to illustrate this central article of faith, id to me a never-ceasing wonder. I can only
reite rate my own anxious desire to receive records of experiments from observers at
every point of view.
1 See Appendices to this review.
sappkmeiit] "Automati&me Psychologique" 191
It follows that so long as we are dealing with mankind from a rough
practical point of view, — as, for instance, in therapeutics, — we may without
serious error treat the ordinary state of health and intelligence as a type to
which aberrant specimens ought to be recalled. But if we wish to engage,
as M. Janet engages, in a more original, more philosophical discussion of
man's personality, we have no longer the right to assume that our common
empirical standard gives any true measurement of the potentialities of man.
From among a good many passages of M. Janet's which seem to me thus
lacking in width of purview, I take one (p. 137) where, amid much which
I hold to be true and important (see Proceedings, Vol. IV., p. 226), one
phrase occurs which places our point of difference in a clear light.
" The memories which persist in a man's mind are grouped and aggregated
round some one leading form of sensation [i.e., as visual or auditory images,
&c.\ which serves both to express them and to evoke them ; and when they
are sufficiently numerous they form a system of which all the parts cohere and
belong to the same memory. A man perfectly healthy from the psychological
point of view would never possess more than one memory of this kind, and since
all the phenomena of his thought would be attached to images always the
same and always present to him, he would be able easily to evoke them all,
and at any moment. But no one is thus perfect ; a thousand circumstances, —
passion, sleep, drunkenness, illness, diminish or destroy certain images,
revive others, and change the whole orientation of his thought. Secondary
groups of memories are then formed, in accordance with the same laws,
around certain images which are abnormal in his mind ; [e.g.., auditory images
in a * visual,' &c.] ; these new images may vanish and reappear no more ; but
if they reproduce themselves periodically or are brought back by artifice,
they bring with them all the memories which are linked with them, and the
different memories become alternating memories."
The main truth in this passage (in my view) lies in the description of the
growth of subsidiary mnemonic chains, which may ultimately enter into
rivalry with the primary mnemonic chain in the waking individual. The
main originality lies in the association of each new mnemonic chain with a
different set of revivable sense-images — so that a " visual " formed pro tern.
into an audile (to use Galton's terms) enters by that very fact into a fresh
phase of personality. This ingenious hypothesis M. Janet has shown to be
probable in some instances ; — though I think that he presses it too far. But
the main error which the passage (as I think) contains, lies in the conception
of the psychologically healthy or normal man who has one set of memories
only, — say visual ; sticks to that set, and is able to reproduce at will all the
memories which have been grouped around his stock of visual images, —
memories (unless I much mistake M. Janet) of objects wittingly (sciemment)
observed by our normal man's primary consciousness.
Now I say that such a man's memories may of course be practically
adequate, but are certainly not theoretically complete. I hold that every
impression made on the organism (above some minimum which we cannot
guess at)— be it visual,auditory, or tactile, is in a certain sense remembered by
some stratum of that organism, and is potentially capable of being reproduced
in the primary memory. If called upon to defend this thesis at length, I
should find various experiments of M. Janet's own to add to the converging
192 Professor Pierre Janet's [Supplement.
mass of observations which this view, and this view alone, serves to explain
and to unite.
For the moment I must confine myself to a single concrete illustration.
In the paper on crystal-gazing which appeared in Proceedings XIV., the author
gave the following carefully observed incident. She saw in the crystal, — as an
externalised hallucination which M. Janet would doubtless class as morbid, —
a printed announcement, as though from the Times newspaper, of the death
of a friend, as to whose health she was in no way preoccupied. On searching
the Times of the previous day that announcement was found. But Miss X.
had never consciously read it ; — never read it, in the usual sense, at all. She
had simply held that sheet of the Times to shade her face from the fire while
talking to Mrs. Sidgwick, with whom she was staying at the time. That is to
say the words of the announcement had imprinted themselves on her retina,
but their meaning had never reached her mind, in the usual sense of the
term, — that is, her primary consciousness. But when she looked in the
crystal, — used, that is to say, an empirical method for facilitating communica-
tion between the subjacent and the superficial consciousness, — then that
subjacent consciousness was able to convey, in hallucinatory form, this true
message to her primary self. Now I say that in so far as any one possesses a
power of this sort, and can acquire cognisance, either by artifice or by some
spontaneous uprush, of the impressions stored, and the operations proceeding,
in strata deeper than his primary consciousness, to that extent is he superior
and not inferior to ordinary humanity, more " normal " than the average
man — if any norm there be — because he is more fully utilising the possibili-
ties of his being.
In Miss X.'s crystal-gazing the information gained is often trivial, and the
upward-flowing messages interesting mainly in their theoretical aspect. But
there are phenomena of a more exciting kind which must receive just the same
explanation. The differentia (as I venture to hold) of genius ; — not of the
genius which is a mere extraordinary capacity for taking pains, but of the
sheer unmistakable creative genius (say for instance) of a Mozart, — lies in this
very same thing ; — in the capacity for drawing upwards into the primary
consciousness the results of operations which have taken place, (with no
effort to the primary self, and often beyond its conscious capacity,) in the
subjacent strata of his complex intelligence. And if after this the man of
genius should suffer from nervous exhaustion, (which is by no means always
the case,) I consider that he has accomplished the greater object at the cost of
the lesser, and is no more morbid than a champion sculler is morbid because
on the day after a hard-won race he has a pain in his back. This mention of
the case of genius is by no means here a digression. For the doctrine that le
(jenie est unr- ne'crose, — that there is something morbid and disequilibrated in
any extraordinary creative power, — is maintained now-a-days1 with arguments
closely resembling those which M. Janet directs against the soundness of
automatists or of hypuotisablc persons. Genius, automatism, hypnotisability ;
these three in a sense must stand or fall together, as representing unworked
potentialities of the human spirit ; accidental or empirical modes of bringing
" the good treasures of the heart " into serviceability to the conscious self.
1 See Lonibrofro's V Homme de Genie.
supplement] "Automatisme PsychologiqueP 193
For, indeed, the capacity of being hypnotised — to return thus to the
immediate arguments of our author — is surely not, as he would have us
believe, an indication of something in the subject already morbid, or on the
point of becoming so. Actual experiment (as we have seen in Mr. Wingneld's
cases) disproves this view as completely as my theory could desire. I offer
in exchange the following suggestion : Hypnotisability indicates neither
health nor disease ; but merely a facility of communication or alternation
between different strata of the personality. The facility of such interchange
(like other capacities of strong organic reaction to given stimuli) may be
harmful or helpful according to the circumstances of each case. It is probable
that those who are morbidly unstable to begin with will be hypnotisable also.
And thus it is found on the whole (though with considerable divergence
between observers) that hysterical subjects are specially hypnotisable. But
this fact constitutes no presumption whatever that all hypnotisable subjects
will be morbid. As well might one say that because drunken men fall very
sound asleep, therefore everyone who falls asleep must be more or less
drunk.
We have dwelt long on this important theoretical point ; for this too
hasty generalisation of M. Janet's from his own experiences with morbid
subjects to the morbidity of all subjects lies at the root of almost all in his
book to which our English experience would lead us to demur. I pass
more briefly over his account of suggestion, — the artificial retrenchment of
the field of consciousness, — which he classes as one of the phenomena of
total automatism. In reading M. Janet's resumi of the power of suggestion,
with his apologies for again treating so well-worn a theme, we, in these
Proceedings, may be allowed a passing reflection on the extraordinary rapidity
with which the phenomena of hypnotic suggestion have taken their place
among the common-places of experimental psychology. Hypnotic suggestion,
though known to the early mesmerisers, (now beginning at last to receive
due honour), in England as well as in France, had, in this generation, fallen
almost wholly out of the scientific purview, and was looked upon as a
trick of itinerant charlatans. In these Proceedings, however, from their
very inception, we have dwelt on the reality and the power of this
singular agency. I suppose that other English organs must be beginning to
deal with the subject now ; but during the seven years1 life of these
Proceedings I cannot remember that we have gathered a single illustrative
instance from any English periodical, or even any criticism, except the oft-
repeated remark that the subjects of suggestion are probably either paid, or
duping the operator.
Well-worn though the subject may now be, M. Janet has, as usual, some
ingenious contributions to make to it. One of the most striking of these is
an experiment— or rather a pair of experiments — which show the con-
vertibility of what I have elsewhere called active and passive automatisms,
— of suggested action and suggested haUucination, — in a quite novel way.
" There are no acts," says M. Janet (p. 148), " without an image in the
mind, which, although associated with a movement, is not on that account
the less intense. A subject ordered to lift her arm has in her mind an image
of the act — an image muscular or visual as the case may be, — which is quite
clear and exactly like a hallucination. For instance, I bid Marie lift her
194 Professor Pierre Janet's [Supplement
arm, but I straightway seize the arm and arrest the movement. Since she
has no muscular sensibility on this side she does not feel my action. A few
moments later I ask her where her arm is, and she answers that it is in the
air, and that she sees it. . . We have thus suppressed the action which
under ordinary circumstances masks the image of the action, and have left
this image isolated [divorced from its habitual realisation]. It is then seen
that the image existed in full completeness, and in this case even amounted
to a hallucination. On the other hand, it is easy to show that some move-
ment [surely it would be safer to say some tendency to movement] always
accompanies a suggested hallucination. . . It is impossible to give to a
visual subject the visual hallucination of the movement of her arm without
the supervention of an actual movement. I told Leonie, after bandaging
her eyes, to see her left arm rising and waving in the air. [Her left side is
anaesthetic, so that its automatic movements could give her no information.]
In a few moments she said, * Tes, I see it ; the fingers are parted ' ; but at
the same time the left arm [which she cannot feel] executed just the move-
ment which she declared that she saw."
The value or novelty of each experiment of this type can hardly be
judged except by those who have followed pretty closely the long series of
such observations which have of late been accumulated in France. It is, I
think, rather unfortunate that the work on Hypnotism, written for the
International Scientific Series, — though lucid and ingenious as are all the
productions of its fertile authors, — should contain at least one series of
experiments of very dubious interpretation. I allude to the trantfert, and
especially the traiisfert psychique,or reversal of emotion, supposed to be effected
by the agency of magnets on hysterical subjects. The very curious experi-
ments of Messrs. Binet and Fe*re* on this point have received little real
confirmation elsewhere ; and M. Janet is, I think, probably right in
attributing the phenomena to unconscious suggestion, working on some
influence of a vaguer kind which the magnet may perhaps exert. I see,
indeed, that in his latest paper (Rev. Phil, October, 1889, p. 438) M. Binet
himself admits as an explanation of this so-called psychical polarisation the
view of Ottolenghi and Lombroso that " the principal action of the magnet
on the organism consists in suppressing the phenomena previously suggested ;
so that — this phenomenon once effaced — association by contrast comes into
play, and produces in the consciousness a negative instead of a positive
phenomenon " : — i.e., a reversal of the hallucinatory idea previously dominant.
But I must pass on to the second division of M. Janet's book, — in which
he deals with partial automatism ; — the subconscious acts performed by
persons in a waking state, in obedience sometimes to previous suggestion in
the hypnotic trance, or sometimes to commands insinuated into the waking
.subject pat distraction ; — by whispers or tactile hints which the main
consciousness of the subject does not perceive, but which induce (say) her
amesthetic hand to write automatic replies. Automatic we are forced to call
these acts, but (as M. Janet justly insists) we must not therefore assume that
they are effected without a consciousness of their own. I must not here
dwell on the details of these ingenious investigations, of many of which some
account has already been given in these Proceedings.
Bather let me once more colligate these and many similar experiments in
supplement] " Automatisme Psychologique." 195
a single hypothesis, and give to human personality a definition as wide as
such observations seem to require. I suggest that every cell in our bodies
may have a separate memory, and therefore in a sense a rudimentary
personality of its own. Every combination of cells, every nerve, every
muscle, every limb or tract of the body, with its brain-connections, may have
a more complex memory of its own, and may recollect and give account of
incidents of which the ordinary waking consciousness has never been aware.
These are separate memories which do not deserve the title of separate
personalities, except in the sense in which that word may be applied to the
brute creation. Above this comes the immense nervous apparatus
which corresponds to the human mind : and of this apparatus we habitually
use only some such proportion as our English vocabulary bears to all
possible combinations of the alphabet. The letters of our inward alphabet
will shape themselves into many other dialects ; — many other personalities, as
distinct as those which we assume to be ourselves, can be made out of our
mental material. In some extreme case these allotropic personalities may
alternate with or supersede the personalities which we have learnt to call our
own. But in ordinary cases, where they do not thus emerge, we must not
assume that they are non-existent. It may be indeed that they are not
shaped into definite chains of memory — a Lucie II. and a Lucie III. — as in
M. Janet's subjects. It may be that the very formation in us of anything so
narrow and confined as what we know as personality, is in itself a limitation
of our essential being, — a mere mode of concentration in order to meet the
perils of our environment. But in some way or other — personalised or not
personalised — a continuous activity of our whole being goes on, of which the
results are in some sense psychical, in some sense permanent. Every
impression made upon or within the organism has a psychical counterpart,
and this, or the capacity of reproducing this, is somewhere fixed and pre-
served. The question as to what part of a man's being enters into his
ordinary consciousness is like the question what part of his body when he
floats on the sea, floats above water. It is necessary for his preservation that
a certain minimum should so float ; but the submerged portion is living with
the same life as the portion exposed.
Our hypothesis, it is manifest, may be carried one step further. Each of
the personalities within us is itself the summation of many narrower and
inferior memories. It is conceivable that there may be for each man a yet
more comprehensive personality — or say an individuality — which correlates
and comprises all known and unknown phases of his being. Such a notion
can no longer be dismissed as merely mystical ; analogy points to it ; and
although no observation could fully prove it there may well be observations
which may make it probable. But here as everywhere fearless analysis is
the pre-requisite of any sound construction. We must not shrink from
pulling ourselves to pieces if we hope to find indications that there is some-
thing in us larger and more perdurable than we had previously supposed.
An important chapter of M. Janet's book, — " Desagregation Psycholo-
gique," — is devoted to the review of a subject where premature construction
has long hindered necessary analysis. It requires some courage, — perhaps
more courage in France even than in England, — for a scientific writer so
much as to discuss the Spiritistic literature. M. Janet faces the task,
O 1
196 Professor Pierre Janets [Supplement.
though in tho spirit of a chemist studying the records of alchemy. " Experi-
mental psychology," he says, " began by being animal magnetism and
spiritism ; let us not forget this fact, nor laugh at our ancestors."
His treatment of the problem is careful and candid, and he has little
difficulty in explaining most of the facts accessible to him on lines familiar to
the readers of these Prvceetlingn, — as the manifestation of some disintegration
of personality within the medium rather than of some invasion of a personality
from without. I say that " most of the facts accessible to him " are explica-
ble in this way. But there are, I know, other facts less easy of explanation.
Never could there bo a better moment than now for some new champion of
the Spiritual explanation of automatic writing to enter the field. He must
be someone capable of understanding the essential points as to evidence of
outside intelligence on which dispassionate critics are now agreeing, and
which it is no disgrace to the earlier Spiritualists that they could not at once
divine. And he must be someone really patient, really diligent, — willing to
bestow on his experiments— what I much doubt whether any Spiritualist
author has yet done — something approaching the time and care which M.
Janet has bestowed upon his. The few cases which have been sent to myself,
by M. Aksakof and others, in response to previous appeals of this kind, are
quite enough to show the real importance to science of the fullest possible
presentation of that very theory against whose rash and hasty adoption both
M. Janet's arguments and my own have thus far been directed.1
This long review must now draw to a close. I may perhaps end it by
quoting a curious example given by M. Janet (p. 466) in his last chapter, "La
Faiblesse et la Force Morales," to show how the tendency to " psychological
automatism " is latent in all of us, but gathers force to manifest itself only
when we are brought " below par " by fatigue or disease.
44 Tt is commonly said that love is a passion to which man is always liable,
and which may surprise him at any moment of his life, from 15 to 75. This
does not seem to me accurate ; and a man is not throughout all his life and
at every moment susceptible of falling in love (tie devetur amoureux). When
a man is in good physical and moral health, when he has easy and com-
plete com maud of all his ideas, he may expose himself to circumstances the
most capable of giving rise to a passion, but he will not feel it. His desires
will be reasonable and obedient to his will, leading tho man only so far as he
wishes to go, and disappearing when ho wishes to be rid of them. On the
other hand if a man is morally below the mark (maladt au moral), — if in
consequence of physical fatigue or excessive intellectual work, or of violent
shocks and prolonged sorrow, he is exhausted, melancholy, distracted, timid*
incapable of controlling his ideas, — in a word, depressed, — then he will fall in
1 An allusion made by M. Janet to the Rev. P. H. Newnham (p. 392) gives me
opj>ortunity of reflating my grateful acknowledgment of the kindness and candour
with which Mr. Newnham presents me with the original private note-book* containing?
his experiments, — which hooks I shall \\e glad at any time to show to inquirers.
Newnham, who had lived for some years in the calm but constant expectation of
from disease of the heart, has now passed away ; and I may repeat the witness
others who knew him more intimately than I, to the effect that a simpler, franker^
more saw, more upright character has rarely been met with even in that profc
whose duties he fulfilled so earnestly so long as any strength to fulfil them rei
supplement.] '* Automatisme P&ychologique" 197
love, or receive the genu of some kind of passion, on the first and most
trivial occasion. . . The least thing is then enough ; the sight of some
face, a gesture, a word, which previously would have left us altogether
indifferent, strikes us, and becomes the starting point of a long amorous
malady. Or more than this, an object which had made no impression on us,
at a moment when our mind was healthier and not capable of inoculation,
may have left in us some insignificant memory which reappears in a moment
of morbid receptivity. That is enough ; the germ is sown in a favourable
soil ; it will develop itself and grow.
" There is at first, as in every virulent malady, a period of incubation ; the
new idea passes and repasses in the vague reveries of the enfeebled
consciousness ; then seems for a few days to have disappeared and to leave
the mind to recover from its passing trouble. But the idea has done its
work below the surface ; it has become strong enough to shake the body ;
and to provoke movements whose origin lies outside the primary consciousness.
What is the surprise of a sensible man when he finds himself piteously
returning beneath the windows of his charmer, whither his wandering feet
have taken him without his knowledge ; — or when in the midst of his daily
work he hears his lips murmuring perpetually the well-known name ! . .
Such is passion in its reality ; not as idealised by fantastic description,
but reduced to its essential psychological characteristics."
It will be seen that this eloquent passage, — as of a modernised Lucretius,
—is thoroughly in harmony with M. Janet's opinions, as above discussed,
with regard to the normal condition and necessary limitations of the
psychical energies of man. It is opposed to the wider hopes and conceptions
vhich I have indicated ; but I shall not here again argue the point in
detail. I shall leave it to vol che avete intelletto d'amore to consider whether
H. Janet's analysis is sound or complete, — whether such words as Plato
and Dante have spoken concerning love are " descriptions faiUaisistes,"
or living records of profoundest truth ; — whether that were a sign of
strength or of weakness, — that most overmastering, most irrational of all
recorded passions, which yet was as a Vita Nuova to one potent heart : —
vhich could prompt to high effort, and soar above desire, and project
its passionate ardour beyond the gulf of death. For my part I have
fear lest so soon as we come to disbelieve in the highest facts of
is past, and to despair of surpassing them in man's future, — so soon as we
that we have already attained our full normal development, and that
tls obscure strivings of this restless spirit must lead henceforth nowhither ; —
ftaby that very assumption we shall have entered upon our decadence, and
■vital our degeneration and decay.
- *
This review, with the reviews which follow, must serve for the present
jiW * s fulfilment of our promise of a survey of the existing condition of
■Jpwfcism in France.
I have touched above on several of the points which excited most
trorersy at the recent International Congress of Experimental Psychology,
ifcose discussions hypnotism played a leading part. For the rest,
impression produced by that Congress was that of the increasing
Jtanoe of most of the doctrines of the Nancy school. Readers oi tVve%«
198 Professor Pierre Janet's psappiemait.
Proceedings will not be surprised at this result, which represents in fact
essentially the triumph of generalisations based on a wider experience oyer
generalisations based on a narrower experience, — narrower, I say, in spite of
the vast extent and skilled organisation of the Salp6triere — because the
subjects there submitted to experiment have been all of nearly the same
type, — hysterical and epileptic invalids. The school of Nancy is gaining
ground, with its demonstration that the "three stages" of the "gixtnd
hi/ptiotisme " under M. Charcot's rule are rarely reproduced elsewhere, and
are therefore not a necessary or typical manifestation of the hypnotic state.
Nancy is gaining ground with its insistance on the power of suggestion, and
its belief in the hypnotisation of healthy subjects. But, — if a foreign
observer may repeat the warning which impartial judges like M. Richet are
already uttering in France, — I see a cloud on the horizon of Nancy's fame.
Its leading men (except the veteran Li6beault) are pushing their theory too
far, and insisting that aU in hypnotism is suggestion, and that there are no
physical influences whatever, whether from passes, metals, or magnets. On
this point I must adhere to the view which I have often expressed in these
Proceedings, that passes almost certainly, metals probably, magnets possibly,
do sometimes exert a physical influence ; and that we are yet far from having
exhausted the agencies which operate between one human being and another.
Has not the history of hypnotism thus far been a slow but repeated justifica-
tion of those who, in each successive controversy, took the wider and less
exclusive view ? of those who recognised most frankly the magnitude, the
obscurity, the unpredictable issues of this ever more penetrating inquiry
into the hidden mechanism of man ?
APPENDIX I.
Mr. Hugh Wingfield, who, when holding a University appointment as
Demonstrator of Physiology at Cambridge, had very wide opportunities of
choosing subjects from his large classes of medical students, sends me the
following statement.
September 6f/t, 1889.
I subjoin the results of my own experience of hypnotic subjects.
I have hypnotised at first trial over 170 men, between the ages of 17 and
28, having had about 20 per cent, of failures.
I do not know how many I could have hypnotised had I persisted, as, if I
failed once, I never tried again.
The subjects, with the exception of 18, were 'all undergraduates. Con-
sidering the extreme rarity of hysteria among men in England, it is utterly
incredible that I should have hit upon 170 hysterical men haphazard.
Besides, I always refused to hypnotise anyone unless I believed them to be
perfectly free from hysteria.
In the only three cases where abnormal symptoms presented themselves
during the hypnotic state (I cannot say that the symptoms were hysterical),
I rejected the subjects.
In most cases I did not test the subjects for hemi-ancesthesia or other
hysterical symptoms, as it was quite superfluous to do so ; but in certain
experiments on sensation it was necessary to test the sensation of both
supplement] "Automctii&nie Psychologique" 199
hands ; and I have also sometimes tested the sensation of both forearms and
the two sides of the face ; yet in no single instance could I detect any
abnormality whatever.
With regard to the other cases, none so far as I know (I have only
inquired of a few) had ever had any symptom of hysteria.
It seems distinctly unfair to argue that because hysterical subjects are
easily hypnotised, all subjects must be hysterical. Besides which, I very
much doubt the susceptibility of aft hysterical persons. I have found two
whom I could scarcely influence at all. Personally, I am quite convinced that
large numbers of persons who have no symptom of hysteria whatever can be
readily hypnotised.
H. £. WlNGFIELD.
APPENDIX H.
On the general question of the comparative frequency of hysteria in
France and England, Dr. A. T. Myers sends me the following note : —
4 'The position of hysteria among the diseases of England and France is
very different. The * grande hystdrie ' which French study has of recent
years defined and accentuated among nearly all large collections of the
young as well as of the sick in France, and more especially in Paris, is
hard to find in England even when sought for, and very imperfect in
its French equipment of ansesthesise and paresthesias and elaborate sequence
of four periods of convulsion, so that it offers comparatively little op-
portunity for testing, for instance, whether metallo-therapy acts purely
by suggestion or not. And the 'petite hystdrie,* the possibility of which
the French observer can never forget when he is dealing with young people,
especially if they are being hypnotised, is out of the question for almost
every one of such subjects as have come most completely under Mr. G. A.
Smith's influence and furnished the staple of Mr. Gurney's inductions.
Cases of it may be found, no doubt, in a few morbid conditions of health and
surroundings in all classes in England, but not among the vigorous, hard-
working telegraph boys, or apprentices to active trades, who have to spend
half their day in the open air and to learn how to use their muscles.
" The diffusion of hysteria among the European races seems to be far from
uniform. The widest experience shows that the French have on the whole
had the most cases to deal with (Strumpell) ; and among them some of the
most severe type. The Italians, Spaniards, and Greeks apparently suffer
more from hysteria than the English, Germans, or Dutch. Among the
Sclavonic races there are occasional limited endemics (Hirsch) ; and the Jews
are credited with a large percentage (Grasset).
200 Binet on the Consciousness of tsnppWment.
IV.
BINET ON THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF HYSTERICAL
SUBJECTS.^
By F. W. H. Mybhs,
M. Binet is doubtless known to most ot our readers as one of the most
ingenious and suggestive of modern French experimental psychologists. He
has worked mainly in association with Dr. Fer6, and at the Salpdtriere ; but his
range of speculation is wide, and his book on La Psychologie du RauonnemetU,
and his Etudes de Psychologie Bxperimeitiale enjoy a just reputation. The
present article is an account of experiments performed on hysterics at
the Salp&triere ; and on this point two preliminary remarks must be made.
In the first place, one feels that the Salpdtriere has, in a sense, been
smothered in its own abundance. The richest collection of hysterics which
the world has ever seen, it has also (one fears) become a kind of unconscious
school of these unconscious prophets — a milieu where the new arrival learns
insensibly from the very atmosphere of experiment around her to adapt her
own reflexes or responses to the subtly-divined expectations of the operator.
One is inclined, therefore, to wait until a series of Salpdtriere experiments
have been independently confirmed elsewhere before offering them to an
English public, which, from our marked poverty in hysterics, is little likely
to have the chance of verifying the results de vwn.
But in this case M. Binet's experiments are so strikingly in concordance
with the quite independent results obtained both by M. Pierre Janet and
by some of ourselves in England, — and are, moreover, in themselves so easy
of repetition, if only a properly anaesthetic subject can be secured,— that
some account of them seems due to the readers of these Proceedings.
In the second place, it may be said that these are pathological phenomena ;
and that our Society is not concerned with disease. To this I answer that
these are not pathological phenomena, but pathological revelations of normal
phenomena, which is a very different thing. The gearing of the hysteric's
inward factory is disconnected ; the couplings are shifted in all sorts of
injurious ways ; some of the wheels are standing still, and some are whizzing
uselessly round and round. But the wheelwork is still all there ; and by
observing the various hitches and stoppages which are now taking place, we
can get a better notion of the way the power is applied than t^e smoothly-
working, carefully-boxed machinery of the healthy subject is likely to give
us. Above all, we must avoid the assumption that the hysteric possesses
any capacity whatever which we do not all of us potentially possess. Is the '
hysteric hypenesthetic ? Then so do we all potentially possess the acuteness
of smell or sight or hearing which she manifests. No fresh anatomical
element is added to her ear or eye ; no fresh physiological pro]>erty to any
one molecule in her body. What she can do, we can do, — only as that has not
1 Recherchcs mir les Alterations de la Conscience chez les Hysteriques. A. Binet,
Revue Philosophiquc, February, 1889.
supplement.] Hysterical Subjects. 201
been the most useful way of exerting our innate powers, our ancestry has so
arranged us that those hysterical delicacies of perception remain in us latent
and unknown. Is the hysteric dissociable into two or more co-existent
personalities ? Then so are we also presumably dissociable ; our machinery
is made on the same plan as hers ; though the belt which for her has slipped
from the shaft, in us still keeps its place, and holds our personalities together.
Nay more, if that purely imaginary entity, the normal man, is still held
up before us as incapable ex vi termini of any change which is not degener-
ation, we shall reply that after all it is one of the perfections of a complex
instrument to admit of the ready disconnection of its constituent parts ; and
that our true ideal should be, — neither the rigid connections of Bo-called
normality, nor the ungovernable disconnections of hysteria, — but a condition
in which we should be able to connect or disconnect any element within us
at pleasure. We can at present do this to a slight extent, and we account
this power as a gain. It is a gain, for instance, to be able to abstract one's
attention, — to become temporarily anaesthetic to noises around one. This may,
indeed, be pushed too far ; as we know that a soldier cut off Archimedes'
head while that philosopher was meditating on the hypothenuse. But our
ideal should go beyond Archimedes ; — it should be to cut off the soldier's
head with one of our personalities, while we meditate unbrokenly on the
hypothenuse with the other.
Let us proceed now to M. Binet and his hysterics ; remembering that
just as, in Mr. Herbert Spencer's phrase, " the mobile in expression represent
the race," — give overt manifestation to such slight changes as pass over the
moods of all ; — so also do these far more profoundly mobile beings *' repre-
sent the race " in deeper fashion ; — sometimes even dissect away our recent
nervous acquisitions, and lay bare processes that correspond to a long-past
stage of evolution.
The first point to remark is that the anaesthetic limb of a hysteric is
almost always capable of certain simple movements, which it executes with-
out the subject's knowledge, or when concealed from the subject by a screen.
If the anaesthetic arm, for instance, is moved in a certain way, and then left
to itself, it continues the movement. If it is guided into writing a word or
words, and then left to itself, it will repeat the word, or continue the sentence.
It acts, in short, very much as the subject's planch ette- writing hand in Mr.
Ourney's experiments acted when fulfilling a post-hypnotic suggestion. Let
us see how far this supposed anaesthetic arm is really intelligent, or is really
susceptible of pain.
If we merely prick the anaesthetic hand it in no way reacts, — shows no
disposition to avoid the pin. Perhaps this is because the pin-prick awakes
no definite conception. Let us try a more complex stimulus.
" We place in the right (anaesthetic) hand of Amelie Cle — a box of
matches ; a large vertical screen prevents the patient from seeing her hand.
After a moment's contact the right hand clasps the box ; fingers it ; seems
to recognise it ; strikes a match and holds it alight ; as the flame advances
the fingers withdraw, as if they felt and shunned the heat ; and when the
flame nears the end of the match the fingers open and the match falls."
From this experiment it is not clear whether pain is felt, or whether the
whole act is a mere piece of what, in a normal waking person, we cal
202 Binet on the Consciousness of [Supplement.
secondary automatism ; — the repetition of a familiar series of actions without
conscious attention.
Let us now, — I abbreviate M. Biuet's account, — give the match-box to a
second subject, L. Lavr — . She opens the box, but having taken out a match
imagines it to be a pencil, and tries to write with it. We light the match
and give it back to her. She does not realise that it is a match, and holds
this and a second burning match till they are consumed or go out, and her
lingers are much burnt. This resembles an imperfect instinct ; as when
ants store up beads which the observer has sown in their hunting-fields.
The result of the experiment with another subject, Louise St. Am., is
still more curious. She drops the burning match, but then at once picks it
up again. This resembles the tendency of caterpillars, <fcc., to go back to
the beginning of a series of actions, if interrupted.1 The Sphex which, after
its burrow had been, to its knowledge, emptied of the prey which it
wished to wall up there, walled up the useless burrow all the same, before
beginning another, was obeying the same instinct as Louise, of continuing
the series of actions in the accustomed order, without regard to the special
circumstances of the case. Sphex and anaesthetic hand each afforded an
instance of " lapsed intelligence/' nervous adjustments originally acquired
by intelligent effort, but now irrecoverably sunk into routine. "How,"
asks M. Binet, " can one explain the preservation of tactile sensibility along
with the loss of sensibility to pain ? Are there two orders of sensibility in
connection with different centres ? Are there nerves for pain, a centre for
pain, distinct from the nerves and centres of sensation ? Or does the
distinction between these two sensibilities consist in a fact of central
perception ? If the sensibility to pain seems to be suppressed both for the
primary personality and for the secondary personality, — that is to say, for the
anesthetic limb, — are we to conclude that hysterical analgesia, in certain
subjects, may be an absolute destruction of sensibility to pain, and not an
alteration of consciousness ? "
I should reply that we must not so conclude in any absolute manner ; but
that all analogy shows that where there is not actual previous lesion or
atrophy of the nerves the injury to them is perceived and the pain is — I do
not say fdt, but rccoynLied, — by some personality or other. I must suppose
that in Louise St. Am.'s case, just as in the case of Blanche Witt — , (men-
tioned in the review of Dr. Jules Janet's paper, vid. inf. p. 216), there is a
yet deeper personality which the experimenter has not reached, and which
was all the time mutely upbraiding the folly of the anaesthetic hand in
mistaking a lighted match for a lead pencil.
As regards the dissociation of tactile from dolorous sensibility, I may
just remark that it is quite possible that our earliest monocellular ancestors
may have possessed the power of feeling contact, but not of feeling pain.
If sensibility to pain be a protective character acquired in the struggle for
existence, the hysterical severance of the two sensibilities is less incredible
than it may at first appear.
The next point of interest observed by M. Binet lies in the automatic
writing of these hysterical subjects. " When a hysteric holds a pen in her
anaesthetic hand [concealed by a screen], in the attitude appropriate to
1 Darwin in Romanes' Mental Evolution in Animals, p. 179.
supplement] Hysterical Subjects. 203
writing, the pen will register the ideas which predominate in her conscious-
ness." If the subject is told to think of a name or a number, the pen —
unknown to her primary self — will write that name or number. Or, if the
subject spontaneously thinks of a number, and the operator then lifts a finger
of the anaesthetic hand several times in succession, the finger will stiffen
when the operator has reached the number which the primary self is thinking
of. The anaesthetic hand can thus be taught to indicate the subject's thoughts
by a variety of gestures, though it is slow in learning to substitute one gesture
for another, — e.p., finger-lifting for writing.
And now let us reverse the process ; let us give the information first to
the anaesthetic hand, and see whether, and in what form, the same kind of
subterraneous communication will transmit the intelligence to the primary
self. Let us take the simplest form of experiment, which is also one of the
most interesting to students of automatic writing.
"The first subject observed was a hysterical woman, M61 — , whose right
arm was anaesthetic. She did not perceive the passive movements of a
general kind which were communicated to this arm ; but if one placed a pen
in her right hand, and made the hand write a word, the patient at once
guessed the word, with her eyes shut. She nevertheless did not feel, she
said, the graphic movement communicated to her hand ; but she had a
visual image of the word, which appeared to her suddenly, ( as if it were
written in chalk on a black-board.' "
M. Binet appears to think that his own are the first observations of this
curious co-operation of the motor activity of one phase of personality with
the visual perceptions of another. Were he in the habit of referring to
English works, he would find the phenomenon noted and illustrated in the
Society for Psychical Research Proceedings, Vol. III., p. 59, &c, (in a paper
read January, 1885), and formulated (as xx' + ss' + w'), among a series of
kindred phenomena there described.
An interesting variety in the experiment is as follows : M. Binet desires
the subject to think spontaneously of a word. Meantime he makes her
anaesthetic hand write a certain word of his own choice. She proceeds to
utter that word, under the impression that she has spontaneously thought of
it. The analogy here with post-hypnotic suggestion is very marked. The
anaesthetic hand, like the dormant hypnotic personality, makes a suggestion
to the primary personality which that personality innocently accepts as its
own spontaneous choice.
Another experiment is curious from the metaphysical question which it
suggests as to the distinction between pain and the idea of pain. In the case
of two hysterics, when the skin of the anaesthetic arm is pinched, behind a
screen, " the patient, carefully interrogated, with avoidance of all suggestion,
spontaneously declares that she has the idea of a painful sensation. She
does not suffer from it, for she is persuaded that she is insensible, but she
admits that the idea of this pain is disagreeable to her. There is thus a kind
of transformation of physical pain into mental pain, like that which occurs
when one imagines or recalls to memory some bodily suffering." The pain,
in fact, as I have before said, is recognised rather than felt ; and it is a fair
question for metaphysical argument whether that pain existed at ail.
The phenomenon (as I at least should say) which is common to these
204 Binet On the Co7l8CioU8ne88 of [Supplement,
and many similar experiments, is that communications from one state of
personality to another, — what, for sheer lack of a word, I have ventured
to call methectic communications (p. 48, note), — impress themselves on the
percipient personality, — just as telepathic communications do, — by means of
visual or auditory images, or obscure perceptions, which may develop into
actual hallucinations. The submerged personality is writing ; it gives to the
emergent personality the hallucination of seeing words written in chalk on a
board. The submerged personality is suffering a definite localised smart ; it
gives to the emergent personality a vague quasi-hallucinatory idea of pain.
Naturally it is when visual images are evoked in the emergent person-
ality that these communications are most distinct. Nor is it only so definite
a movement as the writing of the anaesthetic hand which can get itself
represented in visual form. "With some patients," says M. Binet, "the
visual image determined by the peripheral excitation [of pinches, &c.]
augments in intensity to the point where it externalises itself as a hallucination.
Thus, when one has repeatedly pricked the insensible hand of Lav — , while
she is occupied in reading, she presently sees the book become covered with
little black points which hide and confuse the text ; she is obliged to give up
reading."
Here the annoyance given to the submerged personality was represented
to the emergent personality by a hallucinatory vision, symbolical of the
points of pain. Compare Mr. Gurney's experiment {Proceedings IV., p. 319),
where the stress of competition between the normal and the hypnotic per-
sonalities represented itself to the hypnotic personality, when emergent in
its turn, as a disturbing hallucinatory figure.
"P — 1 was told several times, 'It has left off snowing' ; and then,
when woke and set to the planchette, he was made to read aloud. The
writing which appeared was : It has lfeft sn — , and while this was proceeding
the reading was bad and stumbling. . . . Re-hypnotisation afforded a
glimpse of the condition in which the secondary intelligence had found itself.
Asked what he had been doing, the subject replied, ' Trying to write, It has
left off snowing. ' Asked if he had been reading, he said, * Reading ! No, I
haven't been reading,' and added, 'Something seemed to disturb me.'
How was that ? * Something seemed to keep moving about in front of me,
so I got back into bed again.' Didn't Mr. Gurney hold a book and make
you read aloud ? * No, somebody kept moving about. I didn't like the looks
of them. Kept wandering to and fro. Horrible, awful ! I thought to myself,
I'll get into bed.'"
And now, before concluding, let us extend our area of comparison a little
further yet. All these experiments of M. Binet's have been in the well-
known SalpStriere atmosphere. They have all been concerned with la malade ;
and it has been taken for granted that this dissociation of personalities
through the agency of local anaesthesia could only occur on diseased
subjects. It has, of course, been assumed also — it would seem absurd to
question it, — that the ancesthetic arm was necessarily less rational, less
intelligent, than the primary personality, which had apparently the use of
the head. Let us see whether it is really safe to make either the one or the
other assumption.
In the Proceedings of the American Society for Psychical Research,
supplement.] Hysterical Subjects. 205
Vol. I., p. 549, Professor William James, of Harvard, who is a physician
as well as a psychologist, cites the following case from his own observation.
44 William L. Smith, of Concord, Mass., student at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, age 21, perfectly healthy and exceptionally intelli-
gent . . . sat with Mr. Hodgson and myself, January 24th, 1889, with
his right hand extended on the instrument [planchette], and his face averted
and buried in the hollow of his left arm, which lay along the table. Care
was taken not to suggest to him the aim of the inquiry, [i. e. , to test for
anaesthesia induced in healthy subjects by the mere act of automatic writing.]
" The planchette began by illegible scrawling. After ten minutes I
pricked the back of the right hand several times with a pin — no indication of
feeling. Two pricks- on the left hand were followed by withdrawal, and the
question, ' What did you do that for ? ' to which I replied, * To find whether
you were going to sleep.1 The first legible words which were written after
this were, You hurt me After some more or less illegible writing, I
pricked the right wrist and fingers several times again quite severely, with
no sign of reaction on S.'s part. After an interval, however, the pencil
wrote : Don't you prick me any more. S. then said, ' My right hand is pretty
well asleep. ' I tested the two hands immediately, by pinching and pricking,
but found no difference between them, both apparently normal. S. then said
that what he meant by ' asleep ' was the feeling of * pins and needles/ which
an insensible limb has when ' waking up.'
" The last written sentence was then deciphered aloud. S. laughed, having
been conscious only of the pricks on his left hand, and said, * It's working
those two pin-pricks for all they are worth.'
"I then asked ' What have I been excited about to-day ? ' May be correct,
\ don't know, possibly sleeping. 'What do you mean by sleeping?' Answer:
. I don't know. Yon [distinct figure of a pin] me nineteen times and think Til
" xcriie for you. "
Thus we see that local anaesthesia was produced on the hand of a healthy
subject, but apparently only just so long as that hand was writing the
messages of a submerged self. And when, on a later day, the pencil was
iplaced in the left hand instead of the right, the left hand took up the
(memories of the right hand's previous sufferings.
| " Here," says Professor James, " as the reader will perceive, we have the
consciousness of a subject split into two parts, one of which expresses itself
hrough the mouth, and the other through the hand, whilst both are in
mmunication with the ear. The mouth-consciousness is ignorant of all that
he hand suffers or does ; the hand-consciousness is ignorant of pin-pricks
llicted upon other parts of the body ; and of what more remains to be
rtained. If we call this hand-consciousness the automatic consciousness,
hen we also perceive that the automatic consciousness may transfer itself
m the right hand to the left, and carry its own peculiar store of memories
thit."
Here, then, we have an independent experiment, — dating from before the
blication of M. Binet's experiments above discussed, — and exhibiting in a
' perfectly healthy " subject exactly the phenomena which M. Binet elicited
m his malades. Perhaps those who hold that automatism is always
ted with disease, will say that here the automatism was the sole
4
206 Hysterical Subjects. [Supplement.
manifestation of a diseased tendency which revealed itself in no other way.
This argument, however, is plainly liable to be reduced ad abmrdum by
the continued production of healthy automatists. And after Mr. Gurney's
and Mr. Wingfield's experiments, there can, I think, be no doubt that
healthy automatists can be produced in any quantity, if sufficient trouble be
taken. But while in France we see well-equipped physicians experimenting
in eager rivalry in hospitals teeming with hysterics, we in England have no
such organisation either of researchers or of subjects for research. Instead
of summoning obedient malades in endless procession, we have to induce
healthy independent persons to lay their hands on planchettes which they
regard as grossly superstitious, or to hold pencils which they are firmly
persuaded that no automatism will ever stir. We must not be surprised if
the French report a dozen experiments to our one, until more of us put our
hands to the wheel. And now to conclude with a case admittedly bizarre,
admittedly abnormal, but which illustrates with even absurd unexpectedness
the immense variety which these phenomena of dissociated personality may
assume. The report, included in Professor James's paper above cited, comes
from the late Dr. Ira Barrows, of Providence, R. I., and is corroborated by his
surviving partner, and by the mother and brother of the late patient herself.
This was a case of hystero-epilepsy, in the course of which the patient
'* complains of great pain in right arm, more and more intense, when
suddenly it falls down by her side. She looks at it in amazement. Thinks
it belongs to some one else ; positive it is not hers. . . Cut it, prick it,
do what you please with it, she takes no notice of it. . . She believes it
to be an arm and a hand, but treats it as if it had intelligence and might
keep away from her. She bites it, pounds it, pricks it, and in many ways
seeks to drive it from her. She calls it * Stump ; Old Stump."'
Now comes the odd part of the story. This paralysed arm, which used to
write automatically on its own account, in what may now claim to be the
orthodox fashion, showed itself in one way unique among all dissociated arm-
personalities. It operated, namely, as a kind of guardian angel or Daemon
of Socrates ; it was helpful amid the hysteric turmoil ; it was perfectly
rational while the unlucky head and trunk were raving in frenzy.
" When her delirium is at its height, as well as at all other times, her
right hand is rational, asking and answering questions in writing ; giving
directions, trying to prevent her tearing her clothes. When she pulls out
her hair it seizes and holds her left hand. When she is asleep it carries on
conversation the same ; writes poetry ; never sleeps ; acts the part of a nurse
as far as it can ; pulls the bed clothes over the patient, if it can reach them,
when uncovered ; raps on the head-board to awaken her mother (who always
sleeps in the room), if anything occurs, as spasms," &c.
" Thy right hand," said the Psalmist, " shall teach thee terrible things."
He foresaw that the uncontrollable impulse, as against the enemies of the
Lord, would outrun even the legitimate thirst for slaughter. But it needed
a subtler psychology to teach us that the right hand may moderate as well
as madden, may control instead of urging the violent unreasoning blow. For
to the unsleeping guardian within us all paths of externalisation come alike ;
while yet all together are all too few, and glance, voice, hand in unison can
show but a fragment of the Self.
supplement.] "Das Doppel-ich" 207
V.
"DAS DOPPEL-ICH."1
By F. W. H. Myers.
We are glad to welcome this first publication of the Berlin Society for
Experimental Psychology, a body whose aims, as our readers well know, have
a close affinity with our own. Dr. Max Dessoir, secretary of that society,
and author of the tractate now to be discussed, is already known to us as the
compiler of an accurate and serviceable Bibliography of Hypnotism and
kindred subjects. His present work, while consisting mainly of a careful and
competent digest of French and English experiments and theories, which have
received frequent discussion in these columns, gives evidence also of indepen-
dent thought and philosophical insight. It has a special interest as one of the
pioneer pamphlets which begin to mark the entrance of German science into
a wide region of experimental psychology in which the Teutonic founders of
psycho-physiology have for the moment been outstripped by French, and
perhaps by English, inquiry.
Merely indicating the lines of thought which the earlier part of the
tractate pursues, I shall reserve my space mainly for certain reflections
which its conclusion suggests.
" In the course of ordinary life" — I quote a passage (p. 6) which gives the
keynote of much that follows — " certain actions occur which presuppose for
their origination all the faculties of the human spirit, but which nevertheless
work themselves out without the knowledge of the agent. These actions we
term automatic. Among them are certain automatic movements, as the act
of dressing oneself, or of retracing a well-known path ; and some other
automatic performances, such as counting one's steps, or adding up columns
of figures. These latter acts plainly indicate the existence of a separate
train of memory employed upon them. And, moreover, although they take
place without the agent's knowledge^ they cannot take place without his
&»ucioii$Hess ; they cannot be truly uivconscious acts. They must in some
fashion belong to a subconsciousness which, in its relation to the far more
potent upper consciousness, may best be understood if we consider it as a
*nt\dary consciousness. And if we regard Consciousness and Memory as
the essential constituents of an Ego, we may boldly say that every man con-
ceals within himself the germs of a second personality."
The experiments of the Berlin Society seem to have thus far been made
°Q healthy subjects ; and Dr. Dessoir is decidedly opposed to the view that
Krenuice of personality is the special characteristic of hysteria. * ' In dreams, "
1 Dot Doppdr-Ichy von Max Dessoir. (Karl Siegiftmund, Berlin.) This forms
titojirst fascicule (it is numbered II., but a subsequent notice corrects this) of the
"Schriften der Gesellschaft fiir Experimental Psychologic zu Berlin." A second
focicule has since been published, containing two papers, by Professor Bastian and
F. von Hellwald.
f
208 "Das Doppd-ich" [Supplement
he says, p. 13., " in states of intoxication, in accesses of somnambulism or of
epilepsy, a consciousness distinct from the habitual consciousness assumes the
sway ; and, moreover, mnemonic chains, more or less coherent, are wont to
connect these isolated periods of abnormality.1 The secondary memory thus
originated is not always wholly shut off from the primary train of existence, —
as it was in Macnish's patient, the American lady, —rather there is generally
some connection between the two memories, as in the case of Felida X. But
in either case there may be a manifest change of character in the transition to
the secondary self, so that two personalities2 in every way disparate may inhabit
a single body. In the case of hysterical patients the dual Ego is much less
fully developed. But the careful study of their automatic movements leads
to the same conclusion as to the existence and nature of a submerged con-
sciousness as is suggested by the inward experience of healthy men."
A very felicitous experiment (p. 19) serves to illustrate the persistence,
throughout healthy waking life, of a submerged consciousness which may at
any time rise to the surface if the hypnotic state be induced.
" Several friends were in my room, one of whom, Mr. W., was
reading to himself while the rest' of us were talking with one another.
Someone happening to mention the name of Mr. X., in whom Mr. W. is
much interested, Mr. W. raised his head and asked ( What was that about X ?'
He knew nothing, he told us, of our previous conversation ; he had only
heard the familiar name, as often happens. I then hypnotised him, with
his consent, and when he was pretty deeply entranced, I asked him again as
to the conversation. To our great astonishment, he now repeated to us the
substance of our whole conversation during the time that he was reading to
himself. In this case, then, there was a perception of sensory impressions,
but not in the consciousness with which the waking man worked ; — rather in
another consciousness which found its first opportunity of revealing itself
in the hypnotic trance. "
In this case, as in some of the experiments with crystals reported in the
last Part of these Proceedings^^ find the unconscious Self noting, treasuring,
and reproducing certain information, conveyed indeed through the channel
of the ordinary senses, but so conveyed that it never reached the emergent or
ordinary consciousness of that same percipient in whose depths it was all the
while being registered. From this it is an easy step to the supposition that
the submerged consciousness may stand " im innigstm Ziisammeithqng mit
dem K&rper, " and that the somnambule may thus possess a deeper insight
into his own organic processes than belongs to him in the waking state.
"Perhaps," continues Dr. Dessoir (p. 31), "the secondary Self
presides also over those powers of perception and action at a distance
which only a few observers have as yet admitted. In experiments on thought-
transference it is observable that the percipient frequently is not conscious of
the transferred impression, but reproduces it by automatic word or drawing ;
and there is no doubt that in certain subjects the receptivity is heightened by
the induction of the hypnotic trance, or of some analogous state. The
i (Cf. SPR. Proceedings, Vol. III. p. 226.)
9. Dr. Dessoir 's word is Individualitaten. It is to be wished that a general agree -
ment could be reached as to the use of these two words. The meaning of persona, a
tasJt, suggests that personality should be used for the lower or less persistent unity.
/
soppioMBk] . " Das Doppd-ich" 209
hypnotisation at a distance, moreover, which French savants have established
as a fact, is best thus explained, by ascribing to the unconscious Self a far-
reaching range of perception, and a power of developing an impression
telepathically received as freely as though it had arrived by the ordinary
channels of sense."
Dr. Desfioir, however, seems to suppose that in experiments on thought-
transference with numbers, the " number- habit" constitutes a risk of error
difficult to exclude. Perhaps a few words on this subject may here be in
place ; since the number-habit seems sometimes to be regarded as more of a
mystery, and sometimes as more of a discovery, than it is in fact. Every
psychical act or incident of any kind, — perception, image, choice, motor
impulse, or what you will, — is an extremely complex thing. It is the result
of the co-operation of a great number of nervous elements, which cannot
possibly work in exactly the same way in any two persons, or even for the same
person at different times. In the first place, for each of these complex acts
there will be a limit of attainment beyond which each person cannot go ; as each
man is found to have his " personal equation " when the object is to observe
as promptly as possible the transit of a star. In the second place, whenever
a choice between acts at all dissimilar has to be made, there will be a path of
least resistance common either to all mankind, or to some special section of
mankind. Thus it is easier to read the letter W than the letter E, &c.
A. great variety of such experiments have been made ; and we may safely
say that even between such small efforts as the reading, writing, uttering,
or mentally picturing any given Arabic numerals there must be some
difference in the effort required ; and consequently some general number-
habit which indicates what is the path of least resistance for the majority of
men. But where the difference of effort is bo slight, the general or popular
number-habit will be very weak, and it may easily be over-borne in any
given man by some idiosyncratic preference. For in the third place, — and
this perhaps has not always been clearly seen,— there is liable to exist in
each man an idiosyncratic preference for one of two efforts demonstrably
equivalent, — such idiosyncratic preference depending on some asymmetry
in his own mental images. Let there be two hazards at billiards which
*re mathematically of identical difficulty, the object-ball needing to be struck
within the same limits of accuracy in each case, although in slightly differing
^7*,— and you will find A choosing one hazard and B the other, not at
random, but in accordance with some asymmetry in their respective mental
pictures of table, balls, and probable results of impact. And of course
tiu* idiosyncratic preference— depending perhaps originally on some
Hfcqmlity of early experience — will tend to intensify itself, if yielded to,
tBrtQ a real muscular preference is superadded to the preference based
upon mere conceptual asymmetry.
There is no choice, I say, however simple or arbitrary — not even the
choice between heads and tails or odd and even — which the human mind can
he trusted to make as impartially as the spun penny or the roulette-ball
would make it.
There will presumably therefore be idiosyncratic number-habits,
u well as general number-habits, and although these are not likely to
become strong without being observed, still less to become so potent as to
210 "Dots Doppd-ich." [Supplemei
explain coincidences in double-numbers thought of by two separate minds,
is undoubtedly proper to eliminate this possible source of error from expei
ments in thought-transference. We have made it a rule, since our first fe
experiments, to replace numbers in a bag, or cards in the pack, and shufl
between each trial, and draw at random ; as described, for instance, i
Phantasms of the Living, Vol. I., p. 34 ; Vol. II., p. 653. *
A moment's thought will show, however, that if we thus annihilate tl
influence of the number-habit in the agent, or person who offers the numbei
for thought-transference, the existence of a number- habit in the percipien
or person who guesses the numbers, will in no way diminish, but may possibl
even improve, the evidential value of any excess of coincidences between tl
numbers offered and the numbers guessed. * Suppose, to take an extren:
case, that the percipient's number-habit were so strong that he alwaj
guessed a 3, then if he deserted his 3 and guessed a 5 just when the agei
thought of 5 the coincidence would be much more striking than if he ha
had no number-preference of his own to overcome. Of course, in practic
there are no such gross effects as this ; and for evidential purposes we ma
simply neglect the percipient's number-habit if we take care to neutralii
the agent's number-habit or card-habit by making him draw his cards or h
numbers at random.
From this topic - on which Dr. Dessoir touches rather by the way — I pai
on to a more complex problem. Recognising our personality as no single <
simple thing, arc we to regard it as potentially multiplex, or duplex only ? :
" While there are abundant examples," says Dr. Dessoir (p. 26) "of
double consciousness, in the waking life, the dreams, and the abnormal stat<
of every one of us, we find, on the other hand, that very few observers ent*
the lists in defence of the multiplicity of the Ego. A mere triplicity, indee<
would not suffice. Were we to discover, in some subject, with a third coi
dition like Madame B. 's, that there were still intelligent acts which accou
plished themselves below the level of that third consciousness, we shoul
then strike down on a yet deeper layer of consciousness, and so on a
infinitum. We should arrive at a kind of onion-structure of the Soul ! Bv
since the facts are there, and refuse to be explained away by the facil
hypothesis of suggestion, we shall need the most patient psychological analysi
to bring us to our goal. In the present position of our knowledge I thin
that the wisest course is to suspend our judgment, and to be satisfied wit
the provisional hypothesis that in certain cases a further division of th
secondary Self has been established. That a consciousness deeper than th
1 T mention this l>ecaus»e Professor C. S. Minot has animadverted in the America
Society for Psychical Research Proceedings on our early omission (rectified longbefoi
his article appeared) to take this precaution. See American S.P.R. Proceeding,
Part IV., for his criticism and Mr. Hodgson's reply.
2 Professor Minot hardly seems to have caught this point. "The two minds,
he says (American /V'wW/ww.Vol I., p. 86), "were working differently, eachaccorc
ing to its own habits; hence it is extremely improbable that the excess of right guessc
was due to anything but chance coincidence." In reality, the habit of the percipient
mind, if different, as here stated, from the agent's habit, would not diminish, but ii
crease, the evidential value of the coincidences.
3 On this ]x>int see Mr. Bark worth's letters in the S.P.R. Journal, March an
April, 1S8V.
Supplement.] " D(L8 Doppd-icfl." 211
hypnotic can be artificially created is shown by the well-known negative
hallucinations of hypnotised subjects [where certain objects are kept out of the
hypnotic consciousness by some still subjacent intelligence]. But for the
formation of a new personality we need a new mnemonic chain [as well as a
new consciousness], — and this seems seldom to be found in existence/1
I do not disagree with this ; but I think that we may probe the matter
still deeper. It is not by a mere counting of heads (to use a somewhat
inappropriate metaphor) that we must decide the question as to how many
potential personalities we carry within us. "Man never knows how
anthropomorphic he is " ; and we have still to guard against anthropo-
morphism even while we are frankly contemplating ourselves in a state of
segmentation. I mean that we must not let the unavoidable use of the
word " personality " deceive us into supposing that any separate conscious-
ness, any distinct chain of memory which rises within us must necessarily
form a constituent of a secondary personality of somewhat the same scope
and stature as the first. What seems really to happen is something far more
complex than a mere fission into two personalities, — the second as good as
the first, or better. There is no persistent plane of cleavage ; we split
asymmetrically ; and the new personalities thus formed are by no means
necessarily homologous with the old. There is every gradation from a
secondary state like Felida X.'s, more stable than the primary, to the week-
long or hour-long "controls " which sway the hand and sign the messages of
the graphic automatist.
Or take the class of cases mentioned by Dr. Dessoir himself. The hypno-
tised A is told that B has left the room ; and, consequently, cannot see B. ;
— i.e. (as has been amply shown by Liegeois and others), he does physically
see B, but he receives a constant, watchful, dominating suggestion from
somewhat within him that B cannot be seen. This is what they call at the
Salpetriere, a " systematised anaesthesia." The name is good; but who
systematises the anaesthesia ? What intelligence is it which thus prevents A
from " psychically seeing " B, who is standing in the room before his eyes ?
The suggestion must come, as Dr. Dessoir justly suggests, from a still subjacent
consciousness. But where, he inquires, is the chain of memory belonging to
that consciousness, and needed to complete a subjacent personality — if such
personality could exist ? In answer, I would say that I believe that by pro-
per artifices that third inhibitory personality could be tracked in other
moments of the subject's life. But waiving this point, I will suppose that
the hypothetical third personality comes into being with the experiment and
'^aiahes at its close. Well, at any rate, it has existed during the experi-
ment ; it has fulfilled a task which needed memory, or at any rate continuous
attention, prolonged over an hour. And what hard and fast rule can we
njake as to the necessary length of a chain of memory which is to
constitute a personality? Must it last all life long? Then, if a man's
town is destined to soften next year, he is not a personality to-day.
Or, Again, with what definiteness of exclusion need the new memory
be shut off from the old ? It sometimes happens, as Delboeuf and others
have shown, that a subject who on waking from the hypnotic trance
remembers nothing can be led by artifice to recollect all that he has done.
Is his hypnotic personality annulled when this fusion of memories is effecW
212 "D<X8 Doppel-ich" [SnppUmen
I have said that there is no persistent plane of cleavage to which we ca
point as separating two or more personalities within us. But, of course, thei
are certain planes of cleavage within us which (as Hughlings-Jackson ha
shown) we can in imagination distinguish with fruitful results. We can cox
ceive of our nervous system as consisting of three strata, or three levels c
evolution, and we can trace in dissolutive processes the results of the cessatio
of the activity of one stratum after another.1 But this is not the kind of clea\
age which will make a fresh personality. For that purpose the cleavage mm
not be horizontal, but to some extent at least vertical ; that is to say, thf
each personality must include a certain amount of work done by the highef
centres of all ;— as well as much work done by the middle centres, and a
the work done by the lowest centres, — as heart-action and vegetati\
processes.
The lowest centres, I say, must go on working throughout every chang
of personality, or the machine will stop altogether. The middle centres-
sensory and motor arrangements — may divide their activities between seven
personalities, as in the hysterical cases which Messrs. Binet and Jan<
discuss. We can, to a great extent, trace their lines of division, and we ca
draw our schemes of personalities, each possessing such and sue
sensory activities, motor activities, &c. But when we come to tt
higher centres the difficulty is much greater. We do not know whi
proportion of activities of higher centres is needful to constitute a ne
chain of memory, a separate consciousness. And, moreover, it is by i
means clear that the centres which for our waking life are the highest ai
also the highest or ruling centres for some of these secondary states. Dr. De
soir seems to me to discern this fact, but not fully to apprehend its bearing c
the ultimate question as to what is the deepest or original form of our Ego. E
traces, in language to which wo may fully assent, the rise of our personalit;
as now known, from the combination of the elementary or segmental egos <
which our " colonial " ancestors were composed.
"If then the perfection of the animal organisation consists in this ;-
that from an original multiplicity of groups the individual is developed ; — n
are entitled to regard the lower nerve-centres in men as vestiges of an earlii
system of consciousness. Little of the work done in those centres now arrivi
at complete consciousness ; and thence we may infer that the efficacy of tl
mechanism is synonymous with its automatism. And if herewith we compai
the fact of common experience, that every psychical activity becomes uncoi
scious in proportion as it is fully developed— as reading passes from spellix
to the glance over whole sentences at a time — we shall have to considi
[normal or waking] * consciousness ' as the subjective expression of tl
work of acquisition which the mind is carrying on, as the accompanyii
indication of an incomplete co-ordination of nerve -pathways, or, in strict
psychological language, as the defect of habit. "
Regarded either from the psychical or from the physical side, our highe
waking consciousness represents unstable equilibria, processes maintains
with difficulty, the rcXcvrmoi/ jmytpvrjpa of many complex combination
1 See Dr. Hughlings-Jackflon's Remarks on Evolution and Dissolution qf i
JVervous System, p. 12, &c. (London : John Bate and Sons. 1888. )
sappioncBi.) "Das Doppd-ich" 213
As Dr. Hughlings-Jackson has said1 : ' ' There is no autocratic mind
sitting at the top to receive sensations as a sort of raw material, out
of which to manufacture ideas, &c., and then to associate these ideas.
Answering to the constitution (mainly inherited) of the anatomical
substrata of subject-consciousness, ideas rise up combined, in association,
<&c., and coming out of subject-consciousness they then constitute the object-
consciousness of the moment. . . . There are different degrees of fixity
of nervous arrangements, from those strongly organised, very automatic,
and comparatively settled and unalterable, up to those now making (nerve-
stuff being for the first time traversed by nerve-currents developed by the
more and earlier organised nervous arrangements) ; those nmc making will
be, of course, least organised, least automatic, and capable of most modifica-
tion. The order from most strongly organised to least organised is the
order from lowest towards highest layers of the highest centres. . . . Many of
the new recently-made nervous arrangements will be evanescent; I mean that
they will soon cease to be even the * potential ' nervous arrangements I spoke
of. I suppose that one of the uses of sleep is to sweep the higher layers of
the highest centres clean of many such nervous arrangements."
Now I maintain that the sub- conscious Self, on the other hand, does not
attain manifestation through these recent and unstable nervous arrangements.
Its emergence does not seem to depend upon its securing a larger
share of the highest nervous activities of the conscious self. It attains
its development — advances to the exercise of its characteristic powers
— in a different way. It advances, not by passing into a phase of mental
stress and friction, such as that which corresponds to the most complex
waking thought, but by an apparently effortless improvement in the veri-
dicality of its characteristic hallucinatory content. It begins — not to rack its
brains for arguments — but placidly to image forth no longer false things, but
true. And this (as I have often said) I believe to hold good both for the
subject's own creative power or "genius," and for the influences tele-
pathically transmitted to him from other minds. So far as the creations of
genius are concerned, I can adopt Dr. Dessoir's statement.
"The new Psychology, " he says (p. 37), " has convincingly demonstrated
that in every conception and every idea, an image or a group of images must
be present. But since these images, like the original perceptions of which
they are the recrudescence, are always endeavouring to externalise themselves,
they would always eventuate in actual hallucination, did not the competition
of other memory-pictures and of new sensations hinder their development.
When these checks are removed, — as in sleep, the hypnotic trance, and cer-
tain pathological states, — the hallucinatory germ can unfold itself freely ;
while, on the other hand, in ordinary waking thought we have to deal with a
succession of uncompleted hallucinations. That state which is usually taken
to be fundamental in us is in effect the suppression of our natural tendencies ;
and hallucination — commonly regarded as a merely morbid phenomenon —
represents, at least in its nascent condition, the main trunk of our psychical
existence. The fully-conscious life of the spirit seems to rest upon a sub-
stratum of reflex action of a hallucinatory type. . . It is only when Imagina-
1 Op, cU. pp. 9, 10, text and note.
-14 " Das Doppel-icti.
tion is comprehended as a function of the secondary Self, and Hallucination,
Inspiration, Change of Personality, are understood as projections from within
outwards, with more or less of sensory clothing, — manifestations, in short,
of that externalising process which is always at work within us ; — it is only
then, I say, that the creative imagination of the artist is understood and
traced to its root."
With all this I concur, and I have urged elsewhere that the truest way of
regarding hallucinations is to consider them as messages addressed by a sub-
merged to an emergent stratum of the personality. These messages may be
true or false, meaningless or of weighty import, according to the stratum of
the personality from which they rise. But messages from the sub-conscious,
of one sort or another, they are; and for that reason alone they would deserve
our most careful analysis. Note, moreover, as an indication of the way in
which the unconscious Self works, that whereas hallucinations — visual
hallucinations in particular — often represent the highest creative power to
which the percipient's mind ever attains, they are developed, nevertheless,
without his conscious effort, and as though by the mere act of releasing
somewhat that was already formed within. They come to us unexpected,
confusing, enigmatic ; but as with the golden figures on Achilles' shield, the
hidden Power which forged them was master of its art indeed : —
Trotei daidaXa woXXA loviji<ri wpairidccrcro'.
And thus we come to the question of the relative dignity, the relative
reality of the emergent and the fundamental Self. " From the foregoing
discussions," says Dr. Dessoir, "it might perhaps appear as though the
dominance of the sub-conscious indicated a higher condition of spiritual
activity. That is by no means the case. Such dominance can indeed give
facility for the highest creative production, but without itself representing
a high psychical level. It is man's original condition, no doubt, but so also
is it his most primitive condition; it works in the completest manner, but
not in the manner most in harmony with Reality and the End of Life."
Now, if (lenius and Ecstacy (as has been here implied) belong to the realm
of the Sub-conscious, then I say that you must first tell us what is Reality,
and what is the End of Life, before we decide whether Genius and Ecstacy are
out of harmony with these. What is undoubtedly true is that our waking-
emergent personality is that which is best suited to carry on the struggle for
existence. Itself, as I believe, the result of natural selection, it inevitably
represents that aspect of our being which can best help us to overrun the
earth. More than this we cannot say. If, as we got deeper down, we come
on ever more definite indications of powers and tendencies within ourselves
which are not such as natural selection could have been expected to develop,
then we may begin to wonder on wluit it was that the terrene process of
natural selection, as we have it, began at the first to exercise modifying
power. To such a question no answer whatever can be given which is not in
some sense mystical, or rather metempirical, as dealing with hypotheses
which no experience of ours can tost. But it should be understood that
there is no metaphysical, no physiological answer in possession of the field ;
the competition is open, the course is clear. In the present disintegration,
as it may be called, both of the metaphysical and of the physiological con-
coption of man's being, Dr. Dessoir urges the loss sustained on the
Supplement.] " Dd8 Doppel-ich." 215
metaphysical aide. "Many facts," he says (p. 40), "which Philosophy is
wont to adduce as proofs of the existence of an immortal soul, may be equally
well explained by the existence of an empirical secondary Self ; and to this
Self must Occultism transfer the supersensory faculties of man. " So be it ;
to the secondary, to the submerged Self must, not decaying Occultism, but
advancing Science refer whatsoever faculties are not accounted for by what
we call normal development, terrene and traceable evolution.
But the question of origin will still remain ; and it is not really a
hypothesis wilder than another if we suppose it possible that that portion
of the cosmic energy which operates through the organism of each one of us
was in some sense individualised before its descent into generation, and
pours the potentialities of larger being into the earthen vessels which it
fills and overflows.
On points like these all that anyone can fairly claim is that the one
speculative opinion should be accorded as full a right of existence as the
other. And — to take leave at length of our author — there is no lack of
fairness or candour in Dr. Dessoir's statement of opinions not his own.
Agreeing with him as I do for the most part, I feel in disagreement as
fully as in agreement the value, along all our range of inquiry, of so
capable and painstaking a fellow- worker.
216 Dr. Jvlee Janet on Hysteria and [gopptannt.
VI.
DR. JULES JANET ON HYSTERIA AND DOUBLE
PERSONALITY.
By F. W. H. Myers.
* ( L'Hyst&rie et VHypnotisme,d'aprk la TMmvt de la Double PerwnnaliU, " is
the title of a paper published by Dr. Jules Janet — brother of Prof.
Pierre Janet, and nephew of the well-known Prof. Paul Janet, — in the Revue
Scieiitifique, May 19th, 1888.
Though brief, the paper is remarkable from several points of view. In the
first place, it shows by a striking example how far we are from having
exhausted the possibilities of hypnotism, — even as applied to a subject who
has been for years the object of hypnotic treatment. And in the second
place, it affords a strong confirmation to the old view on which EUiotaon and
his group insisted, — and which one or two writers in these Proceeduigs were
for some years practically alone in supporting, — that there is something in
the effect of " mesmeric passes " which is specifically different from the
effect of Braidian or other forms of stimulation.
Blanche Witt- is one of the best known personalities— or groups of
personalities — in Paris. A hystero-epileptic of the most pronounced type,
she has never been able for long together to meet the stresses of ordinary
life. She has long been an inmate of the Salpetriere ; and some of my
readers may have seen her exhibited there, at Prof. Charcot's lectures, or
by the kindness of Dr. F£re* or other physicians, as the type — I may
almost say the prototype — of the celebrated " three stages " of lethargy,
catalepsy, and somnambulism, of which she realised every characteristic
detail with marvellous precision. Arrived at somnambulism, her state could
be no further changed by the various means employed, — closing or opening
the eyes, rubbing the top of the head, startling with lights or sounds, &c —
and she was led back to waking life through the stages in inverse order.
She was treated, it is needless to say, with great care and kindness ;
and her hysterical " crises " were frequently averted by hypnotic suggestion.
But in spite of all the skill and experience brought to bear on her case, no
one succeeded in removing, — except for a few minutes at a time by the action
of gold, magnets, or electricity, — the various permanent " tares" or defects
of sensibility, which signalised her deep-seated hysterical trouble.
In all her states she was without feeling of contact, feeling of position,
or feeling of pain. When her eyes were closed (in the waking state,) she
could not stand upright, nor close her hands completely, nor hold a heavy
object. She could not hear with the left ear, nor see colours with the left
eye, whose visual field, moreover, was greatly restricted.
Such was her condition when she came under Dr. Dumontpallier's charge
at another hospital, — the Hotel Dieu, — and was hypnotised by M. Jules Janet.
She passed as usual through the three 4< classical " stages. But M. Janet, —
sappfament.] Double Personality. 217
without, as I understand, any preconceived theory as to the result, —
determined to try what a prolongation of passes would effect. Instead of
opening the subject's eyes in the lethargic stage, — the regular method for
inducing the cataleptic stage, — he continued to make passes, and presently
found that she passed into an absolutely inert state, — " the deep state " of
our English experiments, in which no muscular contraction could be obtained
by pressure, nor did opening of the eyes induce catalepsy. After some
futher passes the subject re-awakened into what seemed at first sight simply
a more alert somnambulism than ever before.
But on examining this new condition it was found to be no mere slight
modification of states previously obtained, but a state reconstructed, so to
ay, from top to bottom. In the first place, Blanche Witt- was now
perfectly possessed of the senses of touch,— capable of perceiving contact,
position, heat, and pain. She could now close her hands perfectly, and
compress the dynamometer with normal power. She heard perfectly with her
left ear, previously deaf, and saw normally with both eyes. It was no
longer possible to inspire in her any hallucination. In one point alone did
the differ from a normal person ; namely in her excessive declivity, or
determination to attend to her hypnotiser alone, although she was perfectly
capable of hearing and talking to other people.
In this second state, " Blanche 2 " — as the reader will doubtless expect —
bad a full remembrance of the life of " Blanche 1," while Blanche 1 knew
nothing of Blanche 2. A further point of interest was the determination of
the true position of the " three classical stages " in Blanche's personality.
It was found that when she was in her first or ordinary somnambulism her
memory extended over the fully-developed state of Blanche 2, — so that we
may consider the " three classical stages " as incomplete manifestations of
Blanche 2, who had never till now been able to come fully to the front.
Furthermore, — as the reader either of Mr. Gurney's or of Prof. Pierre
Janet's experiments will expect, — it was not difficult to show that Blanche 2
really existed throughout the whole life of Blanche 1. If colours were
shown to Blanche 1 (with her right eye blinded) and she failed to distinguish
them, Blanche 2 nevertheless saw them perfectly, — with the same eye and
»t the same moment, — and, when summoned, could describe what she had
seen. Or if Blanche 1 were pinched or pricked, to demonstrate her insensi-
bility, Blanche 2 felt everything, and, when summoned, began to complain.
It is strange to reflect for how many years the dumbly-raging Blanche 2 has
thus assisted at experiments to which Blanche 1 submitted with easy
complaisance. It reminds one of the difficulty of pleasing both personalities
at a time which is sometimes found when it is a question in which state to
feed a hypnotised subject. There is an old case in the Zoist where a young
woman used to insist so strongly in the hypnotic state that then was the time
to give her her dinner, that the kind doctors consented. But when she
awoke and saw the empty plate, she would burst into tears.
Once more, it appeared that the chloroformed condition, and in some
sense normal sleep itself, belonged to Blanche 2 rather than to Blanche 1.
Blanche 2 could remember what had happened during the chloroformic
trance, and could recount ordinary dreams of which Blanche 1 had no
knowledge.
218 Dr. Jules Janet on Hysteria and [Supplement
On the whole, then, we may say that Blanche 2 represents — not, indeed,
the complete personality, for that is never represented by any state of any of
us, — but at least a pretty complete group or co-ordination of the various
elements which go to make up a normal human being. Blanche 1, on the
other hand, is scantily supplied with these elements ; she has only just enough
to get on with ; — namely, motility, speech, vision of one eye and hearing of
one ear. Blanche 2 adds to these vision of the other eye, hearing of the
other ear, and general and muscular sensibility. And M. Janet urges that
we may regard this incomplete endowment of the primary personality,
(primary here only in the sense that it is the habitual one), as the differentia
of hysteria.
" In short," he says, " every man presents two personalities, one
conscious and one incognised [he justly urges that this second person-
ality is bien plutot inconpie qu'inconsciente] : in the normal man these are
equal, equilibrated, each of them complete ; in the hysteric they are
unequal and disequilibrated ; one of them — generally the primary — being
incomplete, while the other remains perfect. . . Let us give a form to
these two entities constituted by the two successive consciousnesses ; let us
represent them by two persons, walking one behind the other. The person
who walks in front knows himself but has no notion of the person who follows
him. The person who follows knows himself — and knows also the person
whom he sees walking in front of him. In a normal man, these two
personages are both of them vigorous and are of equal stature .; the second
cannot manage to knock down the first, and show himself openly ; in order
to do so he must await some temporary feebleness of the first personage, — as
in sleep or intoxication. Sometimes, however, as in the case of the madman,
he can abolish the first personage and substitute himself. It is then that,
proud of the exploit, he performs the impulsive actions with which we are
familiar in some cases of nervous disease."
There seems to me to be some confusion here. The second personality,
represented as being the equal of the first — de tattle e'gale — ought hardly to be
credited with performing mere mad acts if it succeeds in obtaining the
mastery over the first. This is to attempt more simplification than the
facts admit of. These actes impidaifs must be regarded, I think, in many
cases as being the self- manifestation, not of any combination of nerve-centres
(or their mental correlates) extensive enough to be the basis of a personality,
but rather of some hypertrophied group of nervous elements, — some idiejure,
existing — like a tumour — in quasi-independence of the mental organism as a
whole. " In a hysteric," M. Janet continues, " the equilibrium is over-
thrown. The two personages who walk in procession are of very unequal
strength. The first is feeble, dwarfed, degraded ; he can scarcely stand
upright ; the second is vigorous and of normal height ; he can easily show
himself ; in order to do so sometimes he takes advantage of the natural sleep
of the first personage and takes a stroll along the roofs, — that is spontaneous
somnambulism ; — sometimes in mid-day he confuses the feeble personage
who walks in front of him, and rolls himself on the ground in frantic
gymnastics, — that is the hysterical crisis."
Here again I must protest against the ascription of these senseless habits
to a secondary personality in the hysterical subject, which is ex hypotticsi
supplement.] Double Personality. 219
stronger and saner than the first. Why should it behave thus wildly ?
Blanche 2, whom M. Janet has been holding up as the type of a hysteric's
second personality, shows, when fully developed, no inclination whatever to
violent pranks. She may indeed — though M. Janet does not state this —
remember the contortions of the crise ; but that does not prove that she
originated the erise any more than she originates any foolish act of the first
personality's doing. Again I say that our metaphor cannot be thus
simplified ; the crise does not strictly form a part either of the first or of the
second personality ; it is the explosion of a group of elements insufficient to
form the basis of any stable personality at all.
But putting aside this confusion of language into which, as it seems to
me, M. Janet has been led by attempting too great a simplicity of metaphor,
and trying to force all the phenomena which Blanche Witt- exhibits into the
cadre of her first or of her second personality, let us consider the definite
result, scientific and practical, which M. Janet has attained. He has shown
once more — as Elliotson again and again insisted — that the mesmeriser who
wants to produce a complete effect, must go on unweariedly with his passes ;
and not assume that because one state, or several states, are readily producible,
and constantly recur, there is therefore nothing to be attained beyond. And
on the practical side he has shown that no amount of hysterical disturbance,
however prolonged and profound, need be regarded as incurable. Hysteria
is not a lesion but a displacement ; it is a withdrawal, that is to say, of <^ : f
certain nervous energies from the plane of the primary personality ; but (. i
those energies still potentially subsist, and they can again be placed, by
proper management, under their normal control.
M. Janet tells me that last year he kept Blanche Witt- for months
together in her second state, with much comfort to her ; and that now,
though he has ceased to attend her, he understands that her condition in the
first state is much better than of old.
Another case,1 treated also by M. Jules Janet, and which he has kindly
given me the opportunity of seeing, is even more remarkable in a therapeutic
aspect It is perhaps the most marked among those very rare cases where it
can be said with confidence that death itself has been averted by a hypnotic
change of personality.
From the age of 13 the patient Marceline R. had been subject to a
miserable series of hysterical troubles — chorea, crises, anaesthesia, &c. In
January, 1886, the hysterical tendency took its most serious form,— of
insuperable vomiting, which became so bad that the very sight of a spoonful
of soap produced distressing spasms. Artificial means of feeding were tried,
with diminishing success, and in June, 1887, she was paralytic and so
emaciated that (in spite of the rarity of deaths from any form of hysteria) her
death from exhaustion appeared imminent.
If. Janet was then asked to hypnotise her. Almost at once he succeeded
in inducing a somnambulic state in which she could eat readily and digest
*elL Her weight increased rapidly, and there was no longer any anxiety as
to a fatal result. But the grave inconvenience remained that she could only
1 The earlier part of this case is decribed in M. Jules Janet's paper, " Un
Gas d'Hysterie Grave," Revue de VHypnotisme, May, 1889.
220 Dr. Jvles Janet on Hysteria and
eat when hypnotised. M. Janet tried to overcome this difficulty ; for a time
he succeeded ; and she left the hospital for a few months. She soon,
however, returned in her old state of starvation. M. Janet now changed his
tactics. Instead of trying to enable her to eat in her first or so-called normal
state, he resolved to try to enable her to live comfortably in her secondary
state. In this he gradually succeeded, and sent her out in October, 1888,
established in her new personality. The only inconveniences of this change
seem to be (1) that when she has been left some months without re-hypno-
tisation a tendency to hysterical mutism sets in ; and (2) that whenever she
is "awakened " into her first personality she has lost (like Felida X.) all
memory of the time passed in the second.
After some shorter trials, M. Janet hypnotised her November 12th, 1888,
and left her in her secondary state till January 15th, 1889. He then ."awoke "
her, but the vomiting at once returned, and she again applied to M. Janet for
help. He hypnotised her, and left her in her second state till March 31st. He
then again " awoke " her, with the same result. Again he hypnotised her ;
and when he took me to see her on August 10th, she had been in the hypnotic
state continuously for three months and ten days ; — during which time she
had successfully passed a written examination for the office of hospital nurse,
which she had failed to pass in her normal state.
When we saw her, August 10th, she was normal in appearance and manner,
except for a certain shortness of breath, or difficulty of speaking, which M.
Janet explained as likely to develop into hysterical mutism, if hypnotisation
were not renewed. She was fairly well nourished, and her expression was
open and contented.
M. Janet resolved not merely to re-hypnotise her, but to wake her and
leave her for a time in her first state, in order to see whether the dysphagia
had disappeared, — and at the same time to observe whether the loss of
recollection of the events of the secondary state was really complete. He
woke her — in the old Elliotsonian fashion — by " reverse passes." Her change
of expression was very noticeable. The look of easy content was replaced by
a pained, anxious air. Her attention was at once arrested by some masons at
work in the courtyard, — who apparently had pulled down a wall, or made
some similar change, since her last wakening. Asked what she was looking
at, she said in a low, timid voice, " I had not observed the alterations."
Asked what day of the week it was, she said " Sunday " ; — and in fact March
31st was a Sunday. " What day ot the month ? " " March 31st. " " How,
then, is this oleander in the courtyard in flower ?" " O, sir," she said,
'* those flowers are only paper." " Feel them ! " She felt them timidly,
and said nothing more. " What had you for breakfast this morning ? " *' I
tried to take some milk." This again referred to March 31st ; — on
August 10th, she had breakfasted on ordinary solid food. " Drink a
little now." She attempted, but spasms at once began, and she could not
retain it. We then left her ; but Prof. Pierre Janet (who was also present,)
tells me that during the two or three days for which she was left in her
first state the alarming vomiting continued and she began to spit blood.
" My brother was sent for, and determined to re-hypnotise her. She was
calmed as if by enchantment, and is now in excellent condition. During her
two 'waking' days she made a number of serious blunders not only as regards
Snpplsnmt.]
Double Personality.
221
her mother, but with lodgers in the house. Her conduct absolutely proved
a complete forgetfulness of the preceding months. After making inquiries
from the various persons who saw her, my brother told me that he could
retain no doubt as to her forgetfulness." M. Jules Janet adds that since she
has been replaced in the second condition the loss of flesh has been rapidly
repaired, and she is again comfortable.
The future of this case will be interesting to watch. Will the secondary
personality fade away again, and leave her exposed to the dangerous sufferings
from which she has now been for nearly a year delivered ? Or will she, like
Felida X , thrive on her radical reconstruction, and live out her natural life —
whose natural life? — in her secondary condition, in peace and quietness? And
if so, are there any of the rest of us who might be made much better by
being made quite different ?
222 Professor LUgeois on Suggestion and [Supplement
VII.
PROFESSOR LIEGEOIS ON SUGGESTION AND SOMNAM-
BULISM IN RELATION TO JURISPRUDENCE.1
By Walter Leaf.
Five years ago, in April, 1884, Professor Liegeois read before the Academic
des Sciences Morales et Politiques a memoir on "La Suggestion Hypnotique
dans ses Rapports avec le Droit Civil et le Droit Criminel." The experiments
there recounted, and the extraordinary conclusions to which they obviously
led, created a sensation in France ; they were introduced to English readers
by Mr. F. W. H. Myers in an article in the Fortnightly Review for November,
1885, entitled Human Personality, which attracted hardly less attention.
Many will remember the shock with which they first read of the mmnUfrMi
crimes which M. Liegeois could by a word induce his subjects to
commit. A daughter fired point-blank at her mother's breast a
revolver which she believed to be loaded ; a young man dis-
solved in water a powder which he was told was arsenic, and
gave it to his aunt to drink. When questioned as to his act, he showed the
most complete ignorance of what he had done. Hardly less astonishing and
disquieting was the development given to the already known facts of post-
hypnotic suggestion. Hallucinations had been produced which worked
themselves out in action at a distance of days, weeks and even months, at
the precise place and hour which it pleased the hypnotiser to suggest. It
appeared impossible to set limits to the power possessed by the hypnotiser
over the future as well as the present, over the character as well as the
momentary acts, of a really susceptible subject.
Five years have expanded this pregnant memoir into a bulky but
eminently readable volume of more than 700 pages. But they have only
confirmed and extended the conclusions therein arrived at. The criticisms
to which he has been exposed in France are examined by Professor Liegeois,
and in our opinion are triumphantly refuted. Experiments in England,
Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, Austria and Germany have combined to
establish the views of the Nancy school against the great names of the
Salpetriere.
The additions which the treatise has received are not, however, wholly
or even mainly polemical. It opens with an excellent review, which seems
complete so far as France is concerned, of the past history of the suggestion-
theory ; that work dono in other countries should be to a great extent
ignored, is only what one has learnt to expect. But with these limitations
it will be found an excellent introduction to the study of hypnotism in
general. The chapter on processes of hypnotisation is thoroughly practical.
The therapeutic aspects of the question, Professor Liegeois, as a lawyer,
1 De laSugyestion ct du Somnambulism* dans leurs Rapports avec la Jurisprudence^
la Midtcinc LtyaU. Par Jules Litgcois, Professcur a la FacuUi de Droit de Nancy, 1SS9.
supplement.] Somnambulism in Relation to Jurisprudence. 223
leaves to his medical colleagues, Dra. Lie*beault, Bernheim and Beaunis, with
the exception of one chapter, where he relates at length some extraordinary
experiments on vesication by suggestion, carried out by Focachon, the
production of stigmata by MM. Bourru and Burot, and the use of hypnotic
anaesthesia in surgery. It is with Chapter xii. that he begins the practical
part of his subject, the influence which the new view of suggestion may have
upon jurisprudence.
The facility which suggestion may give for the commission with absolute
impunity of the most terrible crimes is so obvious that one might at first be
almost tempted to wish that such knowledge had never been published
to mankind. But, apart from the question of pure science, it will be enough
that the reader should glance through the legal cases collected by Liegeois to
see that such a wish is wrong. He makes it clear enough that such crimes
have already been sporadically committed, and that miscarriages of justice
have taken place, which a mere state of ignorance would certainly bring
about again in the future. It is essential in the interests of the innocent
victims themselves that we should know all that we can learn, in order to
save them from themselves. One great step has already been made when
we find that the most suggestible are precisely those who can best be helped,
by the suggestion that no one can have any influence over them in future
bat a single hypnotiser, who is, of course, to be sought in a trustworthy
person. M. Liegeois goes on to consider the steps to be taken when it is sus-
pected that a crime has been committed by an innocent person in a state of
suggested somnambulism. His method is ingenious, but we are afraid de-
lusive. The first thing, he says, is to appoint a commission of doctors to
decide whether the person accused is suggestible. This being ascer-
tained, we have to endeavour to circumvent the suggestion given, ex h\ipo-
tten, by the real criminal ; " Tou will entirely forget that I have given you
this suggestion ; you will in no case be able to denounce me, however much
you may wish to do so." Liegeois has made experiments which show that
inch a device may be successfully turned. He gave one of his subjects the
suggestion that she had committed a murder, but could not denounce him
a* the real author of the crime. Dr. Li6beault then hypnotised her and gave
ber the suggestion that when she saw "the author of the criminal suggestion,
whoever he might be/' she would fall asleep and perform a preconcerted
Knee of acts with regard to him which would not be naturally associated
with the idea of denouncing him. When Dr. Liegeois enters the room she
goes through this series of acts, and would thus in a real case have identified
bim as the author of the crime — whether clearly enough to satisfy a jury
remains to be seen. The experiment was successfully repeated on another
subject, and Dr. Liegeois concludes: "It is possible to give a hypnotic
subject any suggestions relative to the author, whoever he be, of the criminal
impulse, which are not expressly and directly contrary to the amnesia which
be has called forth. The real criminal will thus fall into the hands of
justice, because it will have been impossible for him to foresee and remove
all dangers by a suggestion of amnesia, however large and comprehensive."
But we must ask Dr. Liegeois one question, which he seems to have for-
gotten : Suppose the real criminal has after suggesting the supposed amnesia
*dded " No one in future can hypnotise you or give you suggestions but
224 Proftiwr Liigeois. [Sawtoment
myself " ; how would he then begin his investigation ? His commission of
doctors would report at the outset that the ostensible criminal was not
susceptible to suggestion, and what would be called " justice " must take its
course.
We may end by calling attention to the curious experiments in negative
hallucination described on pp. 701-711. This particular development is, we
think, quite new. M. Li6beault begins by giving his subject, Camille S.,
the negative hallucination that she is unable either to see or to hear M.
Li£geois. She is awakened, and is absolutely unconscious of his presence, even
to the extent of showing no sign of pain when he pricks her with a pin,
though she feels at once if anyone else does so. He speaks to her in his
own name, but she takes no notice. Now comes the strange part. u I now
proceed impersonally, speaking not in my own name but as though
there were an inner voice addressing her from her own consciousness.
Then somnambulic automatism appears as complete in this novel and
unknown form as in any of the shapes with which we are already familiar."
" I say to her aloud, ' Camille is thirsty ; she will go to the kitchen for
a glass of water, which she will bring in and put upon this table.' She seems
to have heard nothing, but, at the end of a few minutes, she does what has
been indicated, and that with the lively and impetuous manner so often
noticed in somnambules. She is asked why she has brought in the glass of
water which she has just placed on the table. * What do you mean ? I have
not stirred. There is no glass/ I then say, ' Camille sees the glass, but it is
not water, as they would have her believe. It is a glass of very good wine ;
she will drink it, and it will do her good.' She executes at once the order
given her, and has immediately forgotten all about it."
M. Lilgeois goes on to give an account of a conversation between
Camille and the other persons present, in which she repeats mechanically as
her own every answer to their questions with which he himself prompts her.
Finally, by a suggestion given in his own name he wakes her up — or rather,
for she is already awake except as regards himself, he abolishes the
negative hallucination, and she has completely forgotten all that has
passed.
The conclusion which M. Li^geois draws is strikingly in harmony with
views which have been developed at length in these pages by Mr.
Myers. "This shows that during a negative hallucination the sub-
ject sees that which he seems not to see, and hears that which he
seems not to hear. There are in him two personalities ; an unconscious Ego
which sees and hears, and a conscious Ego which neither sees nor hears, but
to which suggestions can be made, passing, if I may so express myself,
through the channel of the first Ego. This duplication of personality is no
more surprising than that which has been established by Dr. Azam in the
case of Felida X.," and one or two similar cases. The experiment is
evidently crucial as proving that the phenomena of negative hallucination
are purely psychical, nor physical, as MM. Binet and F^re* would have it.
The further conclusions which might be deduced are more than can be con-
sidered here. Suffice it to say that no student of hypnotism can afford to
neglect this important work.
s«ppkBMBt Two Books on Hypnotism. 225
VIII.
TWO BOOKS ON HYPNOTISM.
By Walter Leaf.
Der Hypnotismus, seine Bedeutung und seine Handhabung, in kivrzge-
faater DarsteUwig. Von Dr.. August Forel. Stuttgart, 1889.
Dk Suggestionstherapie und ihre Technik. Von Dr. Ed. Baierlacher.
Stuttgart, 1889.
These two short treatises have substantially the same object ; that of
assisting medical men in the employment of hypnotism in ordinary practice.
They take the same view, both authors being — one may almost say " of
course " — thorough-going adherents of the Nancy school. Dr. Baierlacher
is a practising physician in Nuremberg ; Dr. Forel, as it is hardly necessary
to remind a student of the subject, is the director of the important cantonal
lunatic asylum at Zurich. Neither of them aims at making any addition to
the theory of the subject, but both supply interesting evidence from their
own experience.
To take the common matter first, it will be noticed that both, like
their Nancy teachers, employ suggestion alone for producing the hypnotic
sleep, without any passes or prolonged gazing at bright objects. Both
recommend Bernheim's modus operandi. " Tou place the patient in an arm-
chair, and make him look for a few seconds up to one or two minutes into
your eyes, and meanwhile tell him in a loud and confident but monotonous
tone that he is going on famously, that his eyes are already swimming, the
lids are heavy, that he feels a pleasant warmth in legs and arms. Then you
nuke him look at the thumb and first finger of your left hand, which you
gradually lower, so that the eyelids may follow. If the eyes now close of
themselves the game is won. If not, you say, ' Shut your eyes,' " and proceed
with suggestions of catalepsy, &c. , following up those which appear to be
accepted. The success which attends this method is rather surprising in com-
parison with English experience. Baierlacher advises that the sitting should
be interrupted and a further trial postponed for a time, if sleep, or at least
some sign of influence, is not produced in half a minute, or at most a minute.
He has attempted hypnotism in 146 cases, and failed in only 25. Dr. For el's
percentage of success is still higher ; of the last 105 persons whom he has
attempted to hypnotise only 11 were uninfluenced ; a figure which shows a
decided improvement on the 80 per cent, who should, according to Bernheim,
prove susceptible, and seems to dispose of the often-asserted view that the
Latin races are easier to influence than the Teutonic. Indeed, Forel lays it
down as a principle that *' every mentally healthy man is naturally hypno-
tisable ; it is only certain transitory psychical conditions which can prevent
hypnosis." It is unfortunate, as he remarks, that his own position gives him
little opportunity of wide experiments with the mentally healthy. With his
insane patients he has had little encouragement. One of them, Mrs. X. ,
226 Two Books on Hypnotism. [Supplement.
believed herself to be Mrs. T. "I was able to hypnotise her, and to produce
by suggestion sleep, appetite, and even post-hypnotic hallucinations. But
when I told her with all possible emphasis during hypnosis that she now knew
herself to be Mrs. X. and not Mrs. T. , that her idea was only an illusion at
which she could now laugh, she kept on shaking her head so long as I
continued my assertions, in order to show me that she did not accept the
suggestion." " In suggestion," he adds, " one uses the brain of the subject
as a machine. In the case of the insane the machine is out of gear and will
not work."
In spite, however, of his primary occupation with these far from hopeful
materials, Dr. Forel has collected a large amount of interesting evidence. We
may quote one or two of his more important experiments. Here is a curious
case of post-hypnotic hallucination.
" I told Miss Z. while hypnotised that she would on awaking find two
violets in the bosom of her dress, both natural and pretty, and that she was
to give me the prettier. At the same time I put one real violet into her
dress. When she woke she saw two violets ; one was brighter and prettier,
she said, and she gave me the corner of her white handkerchief, keeping the
real violet herself. I now asked if she thought that both violets were real,
or if one of them was not one of those fugitive presents which she had on
previous occasions received at my hands. She replied that the brighter
violet was not real, because it looked so flattened upon the handkerchief. I
now renewed the experiment, suggesting three real violets, equally dark,
sweet-smelling, not flattened out, but tangible, with stalks and leaves ; but
I gave her only one real flower. This time Miss Z. was completely deceived,
and quite unable to tell me whether one, two, or all three violets were real
or suggested. She thought that all were real this time, while at the very
moment she was holding in one hand a flower, in the other nothing but air.
It is clear, therefore, that when the suggestion is made to all the senses at once
it is completer."
The following very important case, from the practical point of view, is
slightly abbreviated from Dr. Forel's account. " An old drunkard of 70
years of age, after twice attempting to cut his throat, had been kept in my
asylum from 1879 to 1887 as a hopeless sot. He took every opportunity of
drinking himself into a state of dangerous hallucination. At the same time
he led all the plots against my endeavours to reform the drunkards in the
establishment, and, though not generally malicious, incited the patients
against the Temperance Society. He could not be allowed the least freedom
without using it to get drunk.
" I had long given him up, but in 1887 tried to hypnotise him. He
proved very suggestible, and in a few sittings he was brought into a surpris-
ingly serious state of mind. His plots ceased as though by magic, and after a
time he himself asked that the small quantity of wine which I had allowed
him as a hopeless case might be cut off.
"The patient soon became one of the heartiest abstainers in the
institution. I long hesitated to allow him any liberty, but finally did so in
the summer of 1888. His freedom, though he was always allowed some
pocket money, was never abused. He kept absolutely true to abstinence,
became, by suggestion, a member of the Temperance Society, of which he
sopptenwit] Two Books on Hypnotism. 227
remains an active adherent, and on his trips to town drank nothing but
water, coffee, or the like. His susceptibility to alcohol was such that it
would have been impossible for him ever to drink without detection. . .
In the course of the last nine months he has been only occasionally hypno-
tised for the purposes of demonstration, but requires no further anti-alcoholic
suggestions."
Dr. Forel's attitude towards the developments which have formed the
chief study of the Society for Psychical Research is one of reserve. He says :
" A number of apparently supernatural phenomena are brought up again
and again by trustworthy and honourable persons, which would seem to
support a theory such as that of Mesmer. I refer to so-called thought-
transference or suggestion mentale, clairvoyance, so-called presentiments and
premonitions.
" A remarkable book in this point of view is Phantasms of the Living.
. . . No fewer than 600 observations on visions, dreams, presentiments,
&&, are collected. Exact information is supplied as to the trustworthiness
of the evidence, and only clear statements of credible persons are admitted."
He then refers briefly to M. Richet's and our own results in thought-trans-
ference, and concludes : "It is excessively difficult in all these experiments,
apart from chance and cheating, to exclude the self-deception of the subject,
and in the last resort, of the hypnotiser himself, and above all to be sure
of the absence of slight unconscious suggestion and auto-suggestion. These
results must therefore be taken with the greatest caution." This is an
utterance with which we can hardly quarrel.
To turn back briefly to Dr. Baierlacher's book, the chief interest of which
consists in a selection of cases from his own practice. The most striking of
these is perhaps the first — a case of cancer of the stomach where he claims to
hare succeeded in entirely relieving pain during the last two months of life,
for periods varying from a few hours up to (apparently) two days or more,
obtaining natural sleep, which up to the time of his first attempt was only
imperfectly induced by one to two eg. of morphia. At the same time he
facilitated the taking of food by suggestions to the perverted appetite. The
remaining cases are of a more familiar type — chiefly neuralgia and chorea.
Dr. Baierlacher has the courage to mention at the end more than a dozen cases
of complete or partial failure, a practice which deserves much commendation
now that cure by suggestion is beginning to afford matter for sensational
newspaper articles.
!
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18S9.] Phantasm of the Dead. . 229
I.
PHANTASMS OF THE DEAD FROM ANOTHER
POINT OF VIEW.
By F. Podmore.
The first crude hypothesis, that " ghosts " are the spirits of deceased
persons, actually walking this earth in quasi-material form, and holding
familiar intercourse with their survivors, is probably held now by few
if any of the intelligent students of the evidence amassed by the
Society. It is not that this hypothesis has fallen by the weight of
argument and evidence arrayed against it ; it has merely shared in that
general euthanasia which has overwhelmed many other pious opinions
found inadequate to the facts. It has silently dropped out of view.
But, nevertheless, in the belief certainly of most of those who have
contributed experiences of their own to our collection, and of nearly all
those who have recorded for us experiences related to them by others,
the "ghost," the thing seen or heard, manifests intelligence, and bears
some definite relation to some deceased person ; a relation possibly
similar to that suggested in Pltantasms of the Living to exist between
the apparition seen at the time of a death and the person whom it
ttsenibles.
It is recognised, in short, that the phenomena are essentially hallu-
cinatory, but it is suggested that the hallucinations are in some sense
due to the agency of a deceased person, that they are possibly a reflec-
tion of his uneasy dream ; or, if that conception should be found too
definite, that they represent in .some way the fragmentary thoughts of
a decaying personality.
A close familiarity with the evidence amassed by the Society — a
femiliarity extending over nearly eight years — has led me, not only to
question the adequacy and relevance of the evidence on which this
belief is founded, but to consider, further, whether the very existence
of the evidence, in its present form, may not be largely due to the pre-
existence of that belief in the minds of the witnesses. The hypotheses '
advanced in the following paper, it should be premised, are purely
tentative. I am fully aware that the evidence is at present far too
meagre to justify confidence in any solution of the problems which it
presents. In fact, the main justification for attempting any solution at
the present time ia to be found in the hope that such an attempt may
direct and enootumge the accumulation of further evidence. Moreover,
* theory founcted upon the evidence has recently been put forward
by Mr. Myem And it seemed to me that the facts, as so far &&<&Ttaa&c *
230 Phantasms of the Dead [Nov. 29,
lent themselves quite as readily to what may perhaps be called an
agnostic interpretation: and that it would advance the ultimate solution
of the problem it b:»th views were fairly represented.
It will, I think, conduce to clearness if I here explain exactly what
evidence I am going to discuss. It is the series of narratives, collected
by the Literary Committee of the Society, which has been classed
together as the *• G." series. This includes recognised phantasms of
dead persons, unrecognised apparitions and voices, and the mysterious
noises which popularly suggest haunting. In fact the G. series corre-
sponds roughly to the popular idea of " ghosts." Early in the course
of the Literarv Committee's work it was found that the labour of
.studying the mass of evidence accumulated in MS. would be well nigh
intolerable, and a large part of it was, therefore, printed at the expense
of a member of the Committee — not for publication, but merely for
the convenience of the Committee itself. The cases thus printed are
numbered G.l, G.2, «fcc. (in the series we are dealing with), and by these
numbers I shall refer to them. At a later date some of the narratives
were copied, in manifold, by the type-writer or cyclostyle, and these
subsidiary series are referred to as G.t.l, G.c.l, <fcc. Files of these
narratives are kept at the offices of the S.P.R., and can under
certain conditions be inspected by any Member or Associate. After a
time the plan of printing on slips was abandoned, and that of printing
the narratives in the Journal (for private circulation) was adopted
instead, the same plan of lettering and numbering being retained.
The evidential standard to which a narrative must attain before
being printed even for consideration by the Literary Committee has
never, of course, been rigidly defined. It has naturally risen since the
Committee began its work, but even now it should be borne in mind
))v Members reading the Journal that the Committee do not pledge
themselves individually or collectively to any estimate of the value ol
a story as evidence for supernormal phenomena by printing it for con-
sideration in the Journal.
From the following review of the evidence for "ghosts" I have
excluded, except for illustrative purposes, all cases of the apparition oi
a human figure, whether recognised or not, to a solitary percipient'
except when some connection with matters outside the knowledge ol
the percipient is established, on the ground that there is nothing insucl
a case to distinguish the figure from a purely subjective hallucination
and that as such, in the absence of further evidence, we are bound t<
class it. Cases in which the only phenomena are auditory have ^
been excluded. Such cases stand much lower in the evidential seal'
than cases which treat of visual phenomena. The consideration of then
would not appreciably affect the conclusions to be drawn, whilst t«
introduce them would cumber the argument.
1889.] from Another Point of View. 231
There remain some 200 stories, the majority hitherto unpublished,
included in series G. of the Society's evidences. These narratives record
the apparition of a figure either on separate occasions to different per-
cipients in the same locality — successive cases ; or to two or more persons
simultaneously — collective cases ; or to a solitary percipient, where the
veridical nature of the phantasm is proved by some corroborating cir-
cumstance. A small proportion of narratives given at second-hand, or
otherwise of doubtful authenticity, have been included in the collection,
and these have been employed in the argument to illustrate the ten-
dency of such narratives generally to merge into myth, and to indicate
the possible genesis of some of their more remarkable features. In
discussing the narratives in detail it will be shown, first, that there are
certain features — to wit, the recognition of the phantasm, the furnish-
ing of information by it, its association with human remains or with
»me past tragedy — occurring commonly in these stories, which
strongly suggest the connection of the phantasm with some deceased
person. The stories, however, in which these features occur are almost
invariably either second-hand, or, if narrated by the actual percipient,
are in some other point open to suspicion of inaccuracy. It is inferred,
therefore, that the frequent occurrence of these features in narratives
which are evidentially weak, and their absence, as a general rule, from
those which are evidentially strong, indicate that there is a strong
toythopceic tendency at work, moulding ghost stories into conformity
xith the preconceived opinions of the narrator ; that first-hand stories,
as a rule, escape the effects of tliis niythopoeic tendency through the
greater sense of responsibility of the narrators ; and that when first-
hand stories present any of the unusual features referred to they are,
to some extent, to be held suspect.
It will be shown, next, that first-hand, and less commonly second-
hand, narratives present many points — for instance, the absence of any
apparent motive in the appearance of the phantasm, its tendency to
assume various forms, the liability of the percipients to casual and
apparently non-veridical hallucinations, the occurrence of phantasms
resembling animals — difficult to reconcile with the hypothesis that the
apparition seen is the manifestation of an intelligent entity, and sug-
gesting rather that it is to be attributed to casual hallucination.
One or two narratives, given by the percipients as "ghost" stories,
are then quoted, and it is shown that they may be attributed to simple
hallucination. It is suggested that in such narratives as these we have
the raw material of ghost stories; that a morbid tendency on the part of
the percipient, or the feeling of vague alarm caused by the occurrence
°f inexplicable sounds, may give rise to a hallucination ; and that this
may be repeated in the experience of the original percipient, or in that
tf others who have shared his alarm. The resemblance alleged to exist
232 Phantasriis of the Dead [Nov. 29,
between successive apparitions may be attributed, it is suggested, partly
to expectation due to half-conscious hints, partly to the action of the
raythorxeic tendency above referred to, which operates to reduce dis-
crepancies and enhance similarities in the recollection of the various
experiences. Finally, it is suggested that in successive cases, where
these causes are demonstrably insufficient, and in collective cases
generally, thought-transference may have operated between the original
percipient and all who share a similar experience.
As regards the numerous instances quoted in previous papers read
before the Society, of recognition of a phantasm by some marked
peculiarity, it is suggested that thought-transference from the minds of
persons still living is in almost all cases the explanation more directly
suggested by the facts. Moreover, such thought-transference is a
cause of whose operation we have independent proof, whilst we have
little or no evidence of the action of disembodied intelligences.
On the hypothesis, then, that the apparitions seen in what are
known as " liaunted " houses are actually connected with a deceased
person, there are certain characteristics for which we should be justified
in looking. We should expect, for instance, to find in some of these
stories evidence tending to identify the figure seen. Such evidence
would be furnished (1) by the recognition of the features or the
clothes, or (2) from correct information given by the apparition on
matters outside the knowledge of the percipient. Or, in cases where
the apparition remained unrecognised, the probability of its connection
with some person deceased would be greatly strengthened by the dis-
covery (3) of human remains, or (4) of other evidence pointing to a
former tragedy in the locality of the appearance.
( 1 ) As regards the first head, it is not enough, as already said,
that a solitary percipient should see a figure which he recognises
as resembling that of some friend whom he knows to be deoil.
To establish any claim upon our consideration the phantasm must
l>e seen by more than one person ; or appear at a time when the
fact of the death is not known to the percipient; or the recogni-
tion must be of an indirect kind — that is, the phantasm must
exhibit some true feature previously unknown to the percipient ; or
must be subsequently proved to resemble some deceased person who
was unknown to the percipient. Cases coming under each of these
categories are alleged to occur, but for the sake of clearness they will
be more conveniently discussed in the latter part of this paper, which
deals with the evidence recently brought forward by Mr. Myers in his
papers in the Proceedings, Parts XIV. and XV. One exception may,
however, be made.
In those cases in which, from a mere description of the figure,
%
1889.] from Another Point of View. 233
resemblance is inferred to some person unknown to the percipient, the
evidence must, it is obvious, as a general rule be inconclusive. Except
in cases where there is some marked physical peculiarity or deformity,
it is difficult to conceive a verbal description which, taken alone, would
satisfy an intelligent critic of the identity of the person described. But
an account where the percipient is alleged to have selected a picture or
photograph as resembling the apparition would seem to stand upon a
somewhat different footing. The materials for recognition are here
ampler and more precise, and the evidence may be conveniently dis-
cussed at this point. The results may be given in a few words. There
are six such cases in our collection. Of these, one (G. 62) is third-
hand. In two other narratives (Mr. X. Z.'s case, Proceedings, Vol. I.,
pp. 106-7, and G. 28, Proceedings, VoL III., p. 101) the evidence of
the percipient is entirely uncorroborated as regards the recognition of
the picture or photograph. In the first case there is a very strong
presumption that such corroboration would have been forthcoming if
the facts had been accurately represented in the percipient's narrative ;
and there are proved inaccuracies, which have led to the case being
withdrawn. (Journal, Vol. II., p. 3.) And an element of weakness is
introduced into the other case by the fact that the painting which was
recognised, not without some prompting, was actually hanging in the
dining-room of the house in which the figure appeared, and might
conceivably have been seen by the percipient on the previous day.
Moreover, this case also is susceptible of another interpretation (see
p. 281 below). In the fourth case (G. 133)1 the evidence for the recog-
nition has, under a rigid scrutiny, broken down, and there is strong
ground for believing that there was a mistake of identity, the supposed
ghost being a real boy. The two remaining stories are discussed below
(pp. 280, 292), and grounds are shown in each case for attributing the
recognition to some other cause than the action of the deceased. None
of these six cases, therefore, in which the apparition of a person
unknown to the percipient is alleged to have been subsequently recog-
nised from a picture, go far to prove any connection of the apparition
with the dead. There is another narrative (G. 48) in which the
phantasm is said to have been recognised from a corpse ; but in this
case the evidence is third-hand, if not even more remote, Lastly
(0. 102), there is an alleged recognition of an article of dress worn by
a phantasm, but it is only at second-hand.
(2) I have found 20 cases — there may be more — in which informa-
tion outside the possible range of the percipient's knowledge is said to
have been given by a phantasm, or in a dream. Of these 20 cases only
two (G. 157 and 623) are undoubtedly at first-hand. The first is the
1 An account of this case— the ghost of Tom Potter— was published in Appari-
ti*s, by Mr. Newton Croaland, pp. 45-50.
234 Phantasms of the Dead [Nov. 29,
account of the discovery of the dead body of a suicide through a dream*
The evidence here is insufficient; the person who was in a position to
give the most conclusive corroboration to the percipient's narrative
declined to answer any questions, or give any information whatever.
And the place where the body was found — a neighbouring summer-house
— seems not beyond the range of conjecture, unconscious or otherwise.
In G. 623 (quoted and discussed in Mr. Myers' paper in Proceedings,
VoL VI., pp. 35-41), a skeleton was actually discovered in a spot
indicated by the percipient, which he stated was revealed to him in a
dream. Unfortunately the percipient was dead some years before
the story reached us, and we have had to rely upon his testimony
as recorded. The case is discussed at length below (p. 303). Of the
remaining 18 narratives, none of which, as said, are at first-hand,
there are six cases in which a murder is alleged to have been revealed
(G. 150, 170, 308, 414, 460, 611). There are two cases (G. 129. and
171) in which information is given as to the condition of a body
lawfully buried; two cases (G. 421 and G.c. 600) in which the phantasm
shows a laudable desire to discharge his just debts ; and there are eight
cases (G. 141, 173, 304, 362, 379, 411, 412, and G.c. 305) in which
the apparition gives warning of impending death, indicates the where-
abouts of a missing will, or supplies some other information. Of these,
one (G.173) treats of a missing will discovered through the agency of a
deceased uncle. The story was never published, and as, since its
receipt, we have ascertained that the narrator is a young. woman who
at one time earned a precarious livelihood by copying articles from
American magazines, and submitting them as her own composition to
the judgment of English editors, and as a critical examination has
made it evident that the necessary attestations to the truth of the
narrative, purporting to be written and signed by various persons,
are in the same handwriting variously disguised, it is perhaps not
unreasonable to conjecture that the story itself lacks objective
foundation.
Lastly, there are three cases, all second-hand, or more remote
(G. 138, 338, 435), in which an apparition averts a catastrophe — either
suicide or a serious accident. Thus out of 23 cases in which
a definite piece of information is alleged to have been given, or a
definite purpose shown, only two are at first-hand, ancj in both of these
narratives the evidence is incomplete, whilst the facts themselves
suggest a perfectly normal explanation.
(3) There are about 13 cases in our collection in which human
remains are alleged to have been discovered on the scene of unex-
plained ghostly manifestations. But in three instances only does
the actual discovery rest upon unquestionable evidence (G. 18, 154,
and 386, quoted in Proceedings, Vol. VI., Case IX.). In four other cases
1889.] from Another Point of View. 235
(G. 61, 606, G.c. 306, 617), the whole of the evidence is second-
hand and even more remote ; and in one of these (G. 61) the discovery
of the skeleton is explicitly contradicted on evidence which may be
taken as authoritative. In G.c. 900 the evidence for the finding of a
skeleton rests on the uncorroborated memory of a child of six, who does
not profess to have seen the skeleton dug up ; this story appears to
have been first committed to writing nearly 50 years after the alleged
event In G. 456 (Proceedings, Vol. VI., Case X.) the evidence for the
skeleton depends on the narrator's remembrance of a conversation
held at least 30 years before, and in G. 2 and 614 the authority for
the alleged discovery is not given. In G. 331 the story, though
first-hand, is from an illiterate person; and the figure said to have
been seen, that of a shadowy woman, has no obvious connection with
the remains found, which were those of a baby. In G. 156 the evidence
for the finding of the skeletons is not first-hand, and the narrator is
not inclined to attribute the apparition seen " to other than natural
causes." The story, however, is quoted here in order that readers may
he in a position to judge of the evidence for themselves. We received
the original account from Mr. T. J. Nonas, Tempe, Dalkey, Ireland.
G. 156.
October 17th, 1883.
I send you particulars of an apparition seen by three sons of the late
Her. E. L., for many years incumbent of this parish, and by him related
tome.
About 30 years ago, Mr. L.'s three eldest sons went to spend the evening
oat, and on their return home they saw, near Glasthun (a village between
Kingstown and this), three figures rise from the ground to a few
feet above the ground, and then slowly vanish into air. One saw
it and called the attention of the others. They told their father on
their return, but he treated it as a delusion, and silenced them by
his declared belief that it was a spirituous, not a spiritual, appearance.
They all entered either army or navy, and were absent when, in sinking
the foundations of a house, they1 came upon three skeletons. On the return
to Ireland of one of his sons, Mr. L. got him to point out where they had
seen the appearance, and he pointed out the very place where the bodies had
been found.
Major L., one of the percipients, writes to us in 1884 : —
On a fine clear night many years ago, I and a brother walked homo
between 10 and 11 o'clock, after spending the evening with some friends. On
our way along the high road we passed a small villa, situated close to the sea
shore ; an open, level grass lawn lay in front, reaching to the road where we
stood, from which it was divided by a low wall. The lawn was enclosed on
either aide by walls and small trees, the house being in the open space directly
opposite to us, about 160 or 200 yards distant. Our attention was somehow
1 The workmen.— F. P.
236 Phantasms of the Dead [Nov. 29,
attracted, and we saw what appeared to be three indistinct figures in white,
which seemed to rise as it were from the ground in front of the villa. The
figure in the centre was taller than the others. We watched for some time
and finally the figures subsided just as they had risen. I think there was a
slight declivity in the ground close to the house, which was probably built on
a lower level, and thus the effect described might be accounted for if figures
had approached from the base of the house. There were many houses in
the immediate vicinity, but, so far as I can remember, they were closed at
that hour, and there were no people' about. I feel almost certain also that
the villa was not then occupied, unless it may have been by a caretaker.
On arrival at home we related what we had seen, and were of course
laughed at, and indeed the matter did not make much impression upon us,
and in a short time passed from our minds. Some years afterwards I was
serving abroad with my regiment when I received a letter from a member of
my family who was present on the occasion referred to, recalling my memory
to it, and stating that the lawn had recently been broken up, that in the spot
indicated by us three skeletons had been found, and that the one in the
centre was the tallest. I should add that there was no story or legend
associated with the place, that the discovery of the skeletons caused much
surprise, and that, so far as I am aware, no clue has been found to their
identity or history.
In reply to our questions Major L. writes : —
1st. The night was very clear and bright. Whether the moon was actually
shining I cannot positively remember, but I think it probable.
2nd. My approximate distance from the figures was perhaps a little over
100 yards. I feel sure that what I saw was not an effect of mist rising from
damp ground.
3rd. I have never before had any experience of the sort, or been the
subject of any hallucination that I am aware of. Nor am I in this instance
inclined to attribute the circumstance which I have narrated to other than
natural causes. The discovery of tho skeletons was a very remarkable
coincidence, but it may be nothing more.
We have also received a precisely similar account of the incident
from the son of the other percipient — now dead.
(4) In nearly all the second-hand narratives, and in a very large
proportion of those which have been given to us by the actual percipi-
ents, a tragedy is reported to have taken place in the locality where
the manifestations occurred. The tragedy may take the form of a
premature death, a murder, a suicide, sometimes the death of a miser.
The account of the tragedy is often very circumstantial ; but usually
rests upon tradition alone. It is manifest, therefore, that until some
proof of the deatli has been adduced, we cannot assume the report
to afford evidence of more than the tendency of tradition to conform to
preconceived ideas of the general fitness of things. In one case, indeed
(Proceedings, Vol. I., pp. 106-7), the narrator states that he had himself
searched the parish registers, and ascertained the date of the death,
or rather deaths, the tragedy in this case taking the form of a murder,
1889.] from Another Point of View. 237
and the subsequent suicide of the murderer. The month and day
were stated to correspond with the date of the appearance of the
phantasm. As was stated, however, in the Journal (Vol. II., p. 3),
a prolonged and careful search of the registers has failed to corroborate
our informant's statement; and we have learnt from another source that
the double event referred to never took place; and that the alleged
murderer actually died in another part of the country, and at another
time of year. There are, however, a few cases in which the death, though
no valid evidence for it is adduced, is alleged to have taken place so
recently that there is perhaps a reasonable presumption that the facts
are correctly stated. v Some of these cases will be referred to later.
There are also a few cases in which we have sufficient evidence that the
death did occur as alleged. In one such case (G. 182, Journal, Vol. II.,
pp. 385, et seq.), the evidence is furnished by a tombstone in the parish
churchyard ; and it seems not unlikely that the tragedy, thus solidly
and obtrusively attested, may actually have been the cause of the
disturbances in the house, though not in the precise manner suggested
in the narrative. Three other cases are given below (G. 187, 188, 189),
and it will be seen that in at least two of these cases the facts of the
life and death were within the knowledge of the percipients, and the
person whom the phantasm was supposed to resemble had been
known personally to some of those present in the house.
To sum up : The characteristics which we should expect to find
associated with these manifestations, if they are actually connected
with deceased persons, do not, it would seem, occur at all, or occur
very rarely. The appearance of these characteristics in some of the
narratives now under review is due, in at least one case, to deliberate
hoaxing (G. 173) ; in a few other cases, as in Proceedings, Vol. I., pp.
106-7, they may reasonably be attributed to hallucinations of memory.
Most commonly, however, they appear to be the result of unconscious
misrepresentation by the narrator of the experiences of others. From
another point of view it may be regarded as a strong testimony to the
general accuracy and trustworthiness of the first-hand narratives which
we have received that, in spite of the urgent temptation to embellish-
ment thus demonstrated, these characteristics so rarely occur. Con-
versely, when they do occur they must from their very rarity be
regarded with reserve.
But we may learn much, not only from what we fail to find, but
from what we actually do find in the best attested narratives. We have
seen that the authentic ghost with any characteristics to distinguish
him from a subjective hallucination is rarely recognised : that he rarely
brings any message from the dead to the living : that his connection
with skeletons and tragedies is obscure and uncertain. He is, in fact,
usually a fugitive and irrelevant phantasm. He "flits as idl^j &&TO3&
238 Phantasms of the Dead [Nov. 29, '
the scene as the figure cast by a magic lantern, and he possesses,
apparently, as little purpose, volition, or intelligence.
Often his appearance is so brief and so unsubstantial that he can
be called little more than the suggestion of a figure. He bears as little
resemblance to the aggrieved miser, the repentant monk, the unquiet -
spirit of the murderer or his victim, with whom the teachers of our
childhood and the dinner-parties of our maturer years have made us
familiar, as the Dragons whom Siegfried slew bear to the winged lizards
whose bones lie buried in the Sussex Weald. Moreover, there are cer-
tain constantly recurring characteristics in these stories which are
difficult to reconcile with the hypothesis that the apparitions are due to
any external agency, and which seem to point to another explanation.
(1) It frequently happens that the apparition assumes a different
shape at different times, or to speak more accurately, that different figures
are seen in the same house. And even when the different narrators repre-
sent the figures seen as being on all occasions identical, examination of
their evidence makes this identity doubtful. Impressions so momentary
as these must of necessity be very vague and elusive in the subsequent
memory. The details are likely to be filled in after hearing the
descriptions of others; so that features discerned or believed to bo
common become more definite in recollection and discrepancies tend to
disappear. In short, the image which remains in the memories of oM
the percipients is apt to resemble a composite photograph, in which aH
the common features are emphasised, and details found only in indi-
vidual cases are blurred or faintly indicated. Sometimes, however, tltf
diverse character of the ghost is no matter of inference. Thus in
G. t. 314 (Journal, Vol. III., pp. 241, et seq.), the dress of a female
figure is variously described by different witnesses as "greyish or
mauve," "lilac print," "white," "light," "red," "slate coloured silk with
red cloak"; and the hair is described as "fair," "dark," "brown," and
"brownish." The events occurred in the years 1885-6-7, and the accounts
were written, in some cases, within a few weeks of their occurrence.
If a longer interval had been allowed to elapse between the events
and their record, it would seem not improbable that this more than
Homeric latitude of colour-epithets might have been blended into
uniformity. From the same narrative it appears that, in addition to
the polychromatic figure or figures referred to above, there were seen
in the same house by various percipients a man with an evil face in a
white working suit; "a dark swarthy-looking man with very black
whiskers, dressed like a merchant, sailor," and a "devilish face" and
hands with no body attached. In G. 16 the narrator and others see at
one time the tall slender figure of a woman dressed in black, at
another time a short lady in a dark green dress ; in G. 316 we hear of
" a clergyman dressed in his clericals," and a woman ; in G. 388
1889.] from Another Point of View. 239
a woman in white and a woman in green ; in G. 454 a little girl " in
white, with long streaming fair hair," " a man in a scarlet hunting-coat
and top-boots," and a tall lady with a child in her arms. In G. 463 we
have " a trim little page in antique costume," a man with blood-
stained face, and a woman in short-waisted dress and broad frilled cap ;
in 6. 468 a man with a face " pale to sickliness," and a little old lady.
And in G. 168 we make the acquaintance, successively, of an old
man, a large white " waddlewayed " dog, " a white figure " not more
precisely described, a stout middle-aged woman with large flapping
frills and a baby, and a shower of blood. (See also G. 19, 64, 73, 179,
181, 183, 407, 440, 477, G. t. 301, and below G. 186, 189.) In two out
of the very small number of cases in which we have been able to trace
the occurrence of visual phenomena in the same house through two or
more successive tenancies, the character of the figures is found to vary.
(See G. 181, Journal, Vol. II., pp. 249, et seq.3 and G. 187 below.
See also Proceedings, Vol. III., pp. 117, 148.)
In G. 146 and G. t. 303, 308 it is by no means clear that the
apparitions seen on different occasions bore any marked resemblance*
And speaking generally, the identity of the figures seen in many cases
is rather assumed from the absence of recorded variations than
demonstrated by any detailed agreement in the accounts received by
us \ the descriptions given by different witnesses being frequently too
▼ague to admit of any precise comparison.
Of course, it may be argued that each figure corresponds to a
separate agent, and that when many diverse apparitions are seen in
one locality, we may infer that that locality is haunted by many different
ghosts. It is impossible at present to prove that this is not the true
explanation of the facts. Indeed, if our imaginary interlocutor were to
develope his hypothesis yet further, and contend that every so-called
subjective hallucination is due to post-mortem agency of some kind or
another, I should be at a loss to prove his position untenable. But it
is clear that in a serious argument the burden of proof would lie upon
him who invoked an unknown agency ; and it is obvious that the
characteristic which first drew attention to the phenomena occurring
in " haunted " houses, and which more than any other still induces us
to attach weight to the records, is the alleged resemblance between the
various appearances. If this resemblance can in any case be shown to
rest on insufficient evidence, the explanation by subjective hallucination
^ill appear the easier alternative. And the argument in favour of
adopting this explanation will be perceptibly strengthened if we find
that the primary percipient or one of the percipients has had previous
hallucinatory experiences. The popular instinct to assimilate the
various apparitions is, no doubt, founded on a true appreciation of the
bearing of the evidence.
240 Phantasms of the Dead [Nov. 29,
■
(2) Again, figures of animals are seen occasionally in the same house
with human figures. Thus in G. 38, at one time the figure seen is that
of a man in black, at another that of a black dog ; in G. 101 the figure
of a man and a white cat ; in G. 467 another white cat is seen, and a
lady in deep mourning. ((7/1 G. 43 and 168.) In other cases animals
appear alone, without the accompaniment of human figures. Thus, in
G. 34 the house was haunted by a spectral tabby cat, described as "a
very miserable and unhappy looking creature," which found a melancholy
diversion in suddenly appearing before the cook and causing her to
stumble. In G. 54, which I quote as an illustration, a figure resembling
a bull is seen by two persons simultaneously. Mrs, Potter writes on
December 6th, 1874 :—
G. 54.
The Rake.
Returning from church, my husband camo to meet me at the Wynt-gate.
Instead of going straight home, we went along the walk leading to the Dun-
geon, and as it commenced raining, we sheltered under one of the fine old
trees overhanging the path. We had not stood many minutes when we saw a
large beast, coming straight towards us. My husband, thinking it was one
of the beasts from the park, met it, saying, " Get out, you beast," striking at
it, when, to our astonishment, it disappeared like a shadow. I must mention
that we had a small dog with us. The night was a sort of grey light, and the
animal seemed to come from the Dungeon ; in fact, we thought it quite close
upon us. We were not afraid, and both thought that it was delusion or a reflec-
tion at the time; it was after that I felt timid about it, and never dared
venture near the old castle again, where I had spent many happy moments by
myself.
Elizabeth Potter.
Benjamin Potter.
The above happened in 1858.
Miss Gladstone (now Mrs. Drew) wrote to Lady Rayleigh, from
Ha warden, on December 9th, 1874 : —
It has taken a long time to get the old castle (story) from the Potters.
. . . . I see they have omitted to specify that it happened in September,
about a quarter to eight o'clock, and that the "beast" was apparently a
bull. . . . The Potters have left out several details in their account
which I remember, and I suppose they have forgotten. The animal came so
close that she sprang back and screamed, but he said, "All right," and kicked
at it with the words, "Get out, you beast."
In a later letter Mrs. Drew adds : —
Remember, the old castle, &c, stands in the garden, within the rails,
so no cattle, or sheep, or horses come inside the grounds. No, there is no
ghost story otherwise about the old castle that I know of.
With this account compare G. 123, 142, and 608 (second-hand),
although it is not clear that in these cases the object seen may not
1889.] from Another Point of View. 241
have been a real animal. The narratives numbered O. 124, 125, 144,
(third-hand), 161, and 373 also deal with apparitions of animals.
In many cases mysterious lights are seen as well as figures of men
or animals. (See G. 19, 63, 76, 148, 163, 168, 383, G. t. 4, and many
others.)
No doubt many of those who have recorded experiences of this kind
hold that, as the figures of men may be assumed to represent in some
sort the " ghosts " of human beings, so the figures of animals may
represent the ghosts of animals. The difficulties of such an interpreta-
tion are obvious, but they need not be discussed at length here. Most
students of the subject, at any rate, are agreed that the actual phe-
nomena are hallucinatory ; and it is not necessary, therefore, to ascribe
figures resembling animals to the agency of animals. It is at all events
permissible to suppose that these figures are the products of some higher
intelligence. And such a supposition is obviously necessary in the case
of the hallucinatory lights and inanimate objects generally.
Bat if once this supposition is admitted, the outworks of the theory
dfotLmortem agency are destroyed. To the popular mind the things
seen are what they represent; the figure of a man is the ghostly counter-
part of a man, having a definite substance and extension in space ; and
so the figure of an animal is the ghost of an animal. The instructed
adherents of the post-mortem theory reject this crude view ; but,
nevertheless, their position derives its main support from an assump-
tion which is in essence indistinguishable from it — the assumption, to
wit, that the hallucinatory figure necessarily bears some resemblance
to the person by whose agency it is, on the hypothesis, produced. But
if the figures of animals may be, and the figures of inanimate objects
mtut be produced by a cause unlike themselves, what ground have we
for assuming resemblance in the first case ? And if no such ground
can be shown — if it be admitted that the agent may produce images
unlike himself — why should we restrict our choice of an agent in any
case J Why should we, in any case, seek the agent amongst the dead,,
▼homwe do not know, rather than amongst the living, of whose
existence and powers wo are assured ?
(3) Another very noteworthy feature in the well-attested narratives
u that in many cases one or more of the percipients have experienced
other hallucinations, which may or may not have been shared by others.
Thus in G. 184, 305, 476,1 G.t. 7, 316 (Journal, Vol. III., p. 292), and
G.c. 8, one of the percipients in a collective case, and in G. 187
(below p. 267) two percipients out of three, have had previous visual
hallucinations unshared. In G.c. Ill, the percipient describes four
1 Two different stories bear this number ; the one here referred to is that printed
in the Journal t or May, IBM.
242 . Phantasms of the Dead . [Nov. 29,
visual hallucinations, two of which were collective and two unshared.
In G. 314 and 315 the narrator describes two collective hallucinations
of his own experience. One of the two percipients in a collective
hallucination (G. 334) has also lived in a " haunted " house (G. 333).
And passing from collective to what may perhaps be termed
** successive" cases — i.e., non-collective cases of the ordinary "haunted
house " type, where a figure is seen on different occasions in the same
locality — we find that in G. 328 and 395 one of the percipients in
each case has had another visual hallucination ; and in G.c. 313, a lady
who was fortunate enough as a child to see Queen Elizabeth in a house
in the Old Kent-road has also sent us accounts of other hallucinations,
experienced by her, not shared by others.
And finally we have a large number of cases in which the same per-
cipient or group of percipients has witnessed inexplicable phenomena,
visual or auditory, on more than one occasion, and in more than one
locality. (SeeG. 7 and 41, 14 and 104, 40, 101 and 114, 108, 116,
464, 5 and 6, 475 and 6, and lastly 468, 474, and G.c. 310.)
There are indications that this tendency to hallucination is
hereditary. In G. 169, for instance, an unshared hallucination is
reported of a lady, whose two sisters contribute similar experiences of
their own in another house (Proceedings, Vol. L, pp. 109-113). In G. 318
.and 319, various visual hallucinations, all unshared, are reported to
have been experienced by two sisters ; in 353 and 354, unshared
hallucinations are reported of a father and daughter respectively ; and
Mrs. V. S., one of the percipients in G. 468, 474, and G.c. 310,
resided in another house (G. 469), where not she herself, but her two
daughters, saw hallucinatory figures. The daughters have also had
other experiences of the kind.
These cases, however — and it is probable that there are othens
which I have passed over in an examination by no means exhaustive —
must be taken only as samples.
In very few cases in our collection have we succeeded in obtaining
the first-hand testimony of all the witnesses. Had we done so, I can
feel no doubt that we should be able to point to a much larger
number of cases in which the percipient's experience in a haunted
house had been anticipated by a solitary hallucination apparently
subjective.
Thus, while on the one hand we have found very little trustworthy
evidence to connect the phantasm seen in a haunted house with any
person deceased ; very little, indeed, to suggest the intelligence, the
personality, or even the continuity of the underlying cause, there
are many constantly recurring features in the best authenticated
of the narratives under review which are very hard to reconcile with
any such hypothesis. It is difficult, tor instance, to recognise the
1889.] from Another Point of View. 243
identity of a phantasm which, as in G. 168, presents itself now under
the guise of an old man, now as a middle-aged woman with flapping
frills and a baby, and occasionally as a " waddlewayed " dog, a white
figure, or a shower of blood. Unless, indeed, we suppose, with one of
the most ingenious of our critics,1 that ghosts suffer from a want of
coordination between the sub-conscious cerebral centres, and that these
Protean transformations are the result of aphasic attempts to render
themselves intelligible.
Seriously, it must be admitted that the fact that the figures seen
in a haunted house are apt to assume at different times different forms,
including those of animals and vague lights, suggests that the pheno-
mena are due, not to an alien spiritual presence, but to some predis-
position to hallucination on the part of the percipients. And the
numerous cases in which it can be shown that the percipients have
experienced other hallucinations of various kinds, shared and unshared,
give strong confirmation to this view. If the possibility be once
admitted that a casual hallucination may not only be repeated in the
experience of the original percipient, but may be communicated by him
to other persons living in the same locality, most of the difficulties in
the interpretation of our evidence disappear. In the great majority of
cases expectation or terror, when once the first vision is bruited abroad,
might be sufficient to account for its repetition, and the greater or less
resemblance which the experience of later percipients bore to that of
the original seer would be attributable to hints of the original appear-
ance unconsciously received or half forgotten. In the cases, not very
numerous, where there seems to be some proof that no hint of any former
experience had reached the percipient,2 it is still possible to suppose that
any resemblance between the earlier and later apparitions, if sub-
stantiated, is due to the operation of thought-transference.
I proceed to give various narratives as illustrations, beginning with
three eases where there seems reason to attribute the apparition wit-
nessed by a single person to fear, expectation, or, generally, the
emotional state of the percipient.
The following case has been received from Mr. Joseph Skipsey, the
miner poet, now custodian of the Shakespeare Museum at Stratford-
°n-A?on.
G.c. 613.
When I was 10 years old, working in the pit at Percy Main Colliery,
near North Shields, I yoked a horse to a train of roDing waggons and waited
at a aiding, a spot on which some 30 years before a man had been killed. I
1 Mr. Andrew Lang, in Cattle Perilous.
1 See fOT a collection of some of these, Mrs. Sidgwick's paper on "Phantasms of
the Dead," in Proceeding*, Vol. III.
244 Phantom* of the Dead [Not. 29,
had frequently been at this point before without thinking about this circum-
stance. ITpon this morning it suddenly occurred to me strongly that this
tragedy had happened ; I felt afraid and blew my light out lest I should see
anything. A few minutes afterwards everything around me became visible —
tbts coal-wall, the horse, «fcc. I was astonished at this because there was no
visible source of light. I then heard a footstep coming and saw along the
drift-way a pair of legs in short breeches, as a miner's would be, and hands
hanging down the sides. The upper part of the advancing figure was shrouded
in cVahL The figure carried no light. This imperfect figure came to me,
took hold of me, and I felt a man's grip, but I also felt that it was friendly.
It fondled me, and I felt both the hands and the body. I looked earnestly
for the face but saw nothing but dark cloud. Then the figure passed me and
disappeared. I felt paralysed and unable to speak. I felt no fear after it had
left me, and I often went to the same place but saw nothing.
On my telling this to Tom Gilbis, a miner friend, he told me that he had
seen a light in a hand in a tramway in another mine, but no body. The light
swung round and disappeared.
Joseph Sktpsbt.
December 13ih, 1884.
The obvious explanation of the experience narrated is that it is a
simple hallucination, rounded, perhaps, into a more perfect whole
in the memory of an old man recounting a vision of his childhood.
The hallucination may well have been due to terror, caused by the awe-
inspiring surroundings — a terror of which sufficient evidence is given by
the percipient's action in blowing out his light. It would not, perhaps,
be hazardous to conjecture that under favourable circumstances the
story, if widely reported, might have given rise to a whole crop of more
or less similar apparitions, material for the story of a haunted mine.
In the next case (G. 174), which is extracted from A Highland Tour
with Dr. Caruttuh (second edition, pp. 85-88), by Dr. A. Beith, a well-
known minister of the Free Church of Scotland, the percipient's visual
hallucination or dream appears to have nearly coincided with a noise
heard by two other persons as well as himself. It seems not improb-
able that the noise heard was due to some normal agency, and was
itself the cause of the vision, which in the order of perception preceded
it. It may, for instance, conceivably have been caused by the per-
cipient in a state of somnambulism. Dr. Beith himself was at first
inclined to attribute his experience to nightmare, and it is evident that
he is by no means clear that he was actually awake until after the
occurrence.
a 174.
[This ovent took place in the August of 1845. Dr. Beith had been chosen
by the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland, together with Drs.
"Midlish and M'Kellar, to make a tour of the Highlands and report on the
adition of the adherents of the Free Church in that district, who were
the timo i/7-cared for by the State. Dr. Beith was, on this occasion,
1889.] from Another Point of View. 245
the guest of Mr. Lillingston, of Lochalsh, Ross-shire, for the evening.
After talking for some time with his host he was shown to a large bedroom
on the top flat of the house. Mr. and Mrs. Lillingston slept on the
ground floor, so that between their bedroom and his the drawing-room floor
intervened. At the foot of Dr. Beith's bed was a large fireplace, in which the
dancing firelight flung shadows on the curtains. Being very weary he soon
fell asleep.]
I had gone to bed. After a little I fell asleep, and I slept I know not
how long. Suddenly I was awakened by what I imagined was a loud knock
at my door. I opened my eyes. The fire was still burning ; but was about
to expire. I called, " Come in." No sooner had I done so than I saw the door
slowly open. A man of gigantic stature, of huge proportions, red-haired,
half-dressed, his brawny arms bare high above the elbows, presented himself
to my view. I saw him distinctly advance, not towards me, but direct to the
fireplace, the glimmering light from the grate falling on his massive frame.
He carried a large black chest, which appeared to me to be studded with brass
nails and to be so heavy as to tax to the utmost his strength, strong man as
he was. I saw him pass the foot of my bed as if turning to the side of the
fire next the bed. The black chest seemed to grow into a coffin of dread
dimensions. In that form I saw it but for a moment. My bed-curtain almost
instantly concealed from my eyes the bearer and his burden. He set it down
with a crash which startled me, as I thought, and which seemed to shake the
house, and, as I believed, fairly roused me, I tried to look round to the
fireplace, but saw nothing. Everything was as I had left it on going into
bed. The vision had passed. In whatever condition I had been previously,
I felt confident I was by that time thoroughly awake. Reflecting on the
incident, I soon set the whole thing down to a fit of nightmare, brought on,
perhaps, by the conversation in which I had been so deeply interested before
retiring to rest, land which had somewhat excited my nervous system. In a
short time I had got over my agitation and was composing myself to sleep,
when I again suddenly heard a knock at my door. I raised myself on my
elbow with a resolution to be at the bottom of it, and said firmly, perhaps
fiercely, "Come in." The door opened and Mr. Lillingston appeared in his
dressing-gown, a light in his hand. As he was in figure tall, though not
robust, and of a reddish complexion, his appearance slightly resembled what
I had previously seen. "Have you been ill?" "No ; I am quite well."
4 'Have you been out of bed?" "No; I certainly have not since I lay
down." "Mrs. Lillingston and I have been disturbed by hearing heavy
steps in your room, as we thought, and by the sound of the tailing of some
weighty article on the floor."
[At the breakfast-table next morning the engrossing subject of conversa-
tion was the noise in Dr. Beith's room. He did not tell what he had seen.
The room was examined lest some article of furniture or a picture might
hive fallen, but both in it and in the drawing-room below everything was in
its place undisturbed. Dr. Beith goes on to say : — ]
I would have forgotten it altogether, but the succession of deaths in
our family, just a year after — four children, as already noted, being taken
from us within a few weeks — brought up the remembrance of what I had
seen ; and I felt a strange—an unreasonable inclination^! Maife^ *&k£&»
2441 Phantasms of tlu Dead [Nov. 29,
— to connect the two things, and to conclude that what I had witnessed, in
the Balmacara attic, was a kindly presentiment or pre-intimation of sorrow
to come.
I called on Dr. Beith on Sunday, September 14th, 1884, and heard
an account of the story as above given from his own lips.
Dr. Beith believes himself to have been awake at the time the figure
entered the room. He is quite clear that he did not go to sleep in the
interval between the disappearance of the figure and the entrance of
Mr. Lillingston.
I asked him if it were possible for the whole thing to have been a
trick. He explained to me that the room was a very large one, with
the door in the corner opposite to the bed, so that no one could enter or
leave the room without being seen. The fireplace was by the side of
the bed, whose curtains hid it, but when he sat up in bed and looked
round the curtains he satisfied himself that the figure was not there.
He has never experienced a hallucination, or seen anything else of
the kind. He has, however, had other psychical experiences. Dr.
Beith had never heard of any other unusual experience in the house.
Another case of an isolated phantasm is, perhaps, worth quoting-
as a curious example of the survival of a mediaeval superstition. There
is no need here to look beyond the emotional condition of the percipient
for the origin of the hallucination, its precise form being determined
by her intellectual inheritance and environment. The story is in the
words of the clergyman who visited the dying woman.
G. 104.
Aiigxcst 22iidy 1884.
I was once sent for to see a dying old woman, who, her daughter who
came to me said, had something to say before she died. I saw that the
daughter, a middle-aged woman, was full of curiosity to know what her mother
had to say. When I got to the bedside of the old woman, I endeavoured to
persuade her that I did not want to hoar anything, and told the daughter
that she should not trouble her mother by insisting upon hearing something
out of mere curiosity, but she kept saying, 4i Mother, you know you said
you would tell it, you promised," «fec. Thus teased into making a confession,
•ho, in almost her last breath, said that after the funeral of her husband
sho returned to their bedroom, and (I use her very words) "I saw a man
come down that c/u'wiZe?/, and a better looking man you never saw, and he
said, 'If you will serve mo you shall never want.'" I gathered that she
believed this to bo tho devil, and sho resisted his offer. This proves to me
that monkish legends of such apjmritions are not necessarily lies of those who
first gave them. The poor widow was in a frenzy of desolation, and Satanic
HuggcstionH took a shape, or she fancied they did, and made a lasting im-
pression upon her mind. This story happened 30 years ago, and an old
woman then, in that class of life, would retain much of the ignorance of the
uneducated in tho last century.
Hissing from these cases of apparently unshared hallucination, which.
1889.] from Another Point of Vietv. 247
on the view now propounded, may be taken as the raw material of ghost
stories, we come to a class of cases where a phantasm is witnessed by two
or more persons simultaneously. There- is, so far as I am aware, no
evidence for collective hallucination in the normal state outside the phe-
nomena which we are now discussing; and it is always open to the critic
to maintain that the fact that a percept is shared by more than one
person is in itself a proof of its claim to objective reality of some kind.
Such a critic, however, it may be pointed out, will have to claim an
objective existence not merely for apparitions resembling the human
figure, but for the bull seen by Mr. and Mrs. Potter, the spectral cats
and dogs, the coach and horses, and the mysterious lights seen by
other witnesses. But, at all events, collective hallucination may be
accepted as a working hypothesis, and if it is found to fit the facts, it
will have advanced one step nearer to acceptance as a vera causa.1
It is interesting to note, moreover, as bearing upon the question of the
transference of hallucinations, two cases in which contact or vicinity,
as in some of our own experiments in thought-transference, appears to
have influenced the result. In G. 118 a curious phantasmagoria —
a "witch fire" with people dancing round it — which is witnessed by
| several persons, disappears on the approach of a man "who, being
tan in March, can never see them." And in another story (G.
636), which, however, is second-hand, the narrators mother is said
to have seen the figure of a man, " but my father protested that he
did not see anybody. This surprised my mother, and, laying her hand
on my father s shoulder, she said, * Oh, George ! do you not see him ? '
My father thereupon exclaimed, * I see him now ! ' "
It will, however, no doubt, be readily admitted that if, as suggested
by Mr. Gurney, a casual hallucination, originating in the mind of one
percipient, may by some process of telepathy be transferred to others
in his immediate vicinity, so that they also should share in his percep-
tion, the following are instances of such collective hallucinations.
The first narrative comes from Mrs. Stone, of Walditch, Bridport,
from whom Professor Sidgwick received a viva voce account of the
incident.
The date is a little uncertain, but I think it was the summer of 1830. My
Gxnin Emily was staying with me, and my friend, Mary J., was spending the
day with us. Emily said, "How pleasant it would be to drive over and drink
to with my father and the girls this lovely afternoon. " In a very short time
we were driving in a little four-wheeled carriage to my uncle's vicarage, at
fyfling, about seven miles from Dorchester. They were all at home, delighted
1 Tlie question has been carefully examined by Mr. Gurney in Phantaami of the
&i6* VcL II„ pp. 168-270. See also Mr. Myers' note, pp. 277-284.
El
248 Phantasms of the Dead [Nov. 29,
to see us, and we spent a most delightful evening. As there was no moon
wo left early enough to reach home before dark. A most beautiful evening
it was, and threo more merry girls could hardly be met with. Just after
passing Wrackleford the road is rather elevated. It had been somewhat
dusky before, but here the evening glow showed the hedges, road, and all
near objects. There it was that I saw the figure of a man on the right-hand
side, walking, or rather gliding, at the head of the horse. My first idea was
that he meant to stop us, but he made no effort of the kind, but kept on the
same pace as the horse, neither faster nor slower. At first I thought him of
great height, but afterwards remarked that he was gliding some distance (at
least a foot) above the ground. Mary was sitting by me. I pointed out in a
low voice the figure, but she did not see it, and could not at any time during
its appearance. Emily was sitting by the man-servant on the front seat; she
heard what I said, turned round, and speaking softly, "I see the man you
mention distinctly." Then the man-servant said in an awful, frightened
voice, " For God's sake, ladies, don't say anything ! please keep quiet !" or
words to that effect. I had heard that horses and other animals feel the
presence of the supernatural ; in this instance there was no starting or bolt-
ing ; the creature went on at an even pace, almost giving the idea of being
controlled by the figure The face was turned away, but the shape of a man
in dark clothing was clearly defined. At the entrance of the village of Char-
minster it vanished, and we saw it no more ; though in passing through the
dark parts of the road, then shadowed with elms, I looked round in somo
little trepidation. Wc could never get much out of the man-servant, except
that it was a gho3t. It has struck me since whether he knew more about it
than he chose to say. He was more terrified at the time than either of us. I
never heard the road was haunted.
P. S. — My cousin and the man-servant saw it distinctly, but my friend
was unable to do so, though the figure stood out plainly against the evening
light.
In January, 1883, Mrs. Stone adds : —
My cousin Emily is not living. I have lost sight of the man-servant for
many years.
Miss Henrietta Coombs writes, in August, 1883: —
In the summer of 185fi I was driving in a pony-carriage on the Wrackle-
ford road, when just on the brow of the little hill, before reaching the dairy-
house, the pony stopped short and shook all over, as if violently frightened.
I expected it to start off, and I got out quickly, as did my cousin who was
with m a, the driver remaining in the carriage. My cousin, a military man,
and accustomed to horses, examined the pony and could find no cause for
its alarm or illness. It went on very well afterwards, and I never heard that
it had a similar attack, either before or after that time. I had forgotten the
occurrence until I heard Mrs, Stone speak of the appearance she saw many
years before, when I exclaimed, <% That must bj the place where our pony
was frightened in '50."
J/2 this erne, it will be observed, owe ot U\e persons present saw
1889.] from Another Point of View. 249
nothing unusual, a circumstance which tells strongly in favour of the
view that the thing seen was of a hallucinatory nature.
The next account was given to us, within a few weeks of the occur-
rence narrated, by the two ladies named, with one of whom I have had
a personal interview,
G. 185.
From Mrs. Knott, London, S.W.
March 5to, 1889.
The incident I relate occurred at this address early in February, 1889. I
have lived in this house four years and constantly felt another presence
was in the drawing-room besides myself, but never saw any form until list
month. My cousin Mrs. R. and myself returned from a walk at 1.30 p.m.
The front door was opened for us by my housekeeper, Mrs. E. I passed
upstairs before my cousin, and on turning to my bedroom, the door of which
is beside the drawing-room door [i.e., at right angles to it], I saw, as I
thought, Mrs. E. go into the drawing-room. I put a parcel into my room
and then followed hop to give some order, and found the room empty ! My
cousin was going up the second flight of stairs to her room, and I called
out, uDid you opan the drawing-room door as you passed ? " " No," she
replied, "Mrs. E. has gone in." Mrs. R. had seen the figure more dis-
tinctly than I ; it seemed to pass her at the top of the stairs, and she
thought "How quietly Mrs. E. moves." I inquired of Mrs. E. what she
did after opening the door for us, and she said, " Went to the kitchen to
hasten luncheon as you were in a hurry for it." The day was bright and
there is nothing on the stairs that could cast a shadow. I quite hope some
day I may see the face of the figure.
From Mrs. R., Malpas, Cheshire.
March 1st, 1889.
In answer to your letter on the subject of the figure seen at C. -terrace,
Mrs. K. and I had just come in at about half-past one o'clock. Mrs. E. (the
housekeeper) had opened the door. We went upstairs, and on the first land-
ing are two rooms,one the drawing-room, the other Mrs. K.'s bedroom. She
*ent into her room while I stood a minute or two talking to her. Just as I
tamed to go up the next flight of stairs I thought I saw Mrs. E. pass me
quickly and go into the drawing-room. Beyond seeing a slight figure in a
d*rk dress I saw nothing more, for I did not look at it, but just saw it pass
Ne. Before I had got upstairs Mrs. K. called out, 4 ' Did you leave
*he drawing-room door open?" I answered, "I did not go in ; I
** Mrs. E. go in." Mrs. K. answered, " There is nobody there."
We asked Mrs. E. if she had been up ; she, on the contrary, had gone
*fo*ightdown. Also, as she said, she would not have passed me on the
boding, but have waited until I had gone upstairs ; and as it struck me
*ftmcards, she could not have passed me on such a small landing without
touching me, but I never noticed that at the time. I do not know if a
thought ever embodies itself, but my idea was, and is, that as Mrs. E.
ftQ downstairs her thought went up, wondering if the drawing-room fire
250 Phantasms of the Dead [Nov. 29,
was burning brightly. The figure I saw went into the room as if it hid
a purpose of some sort. I have never seen anything of the sort before.
From Mrs. R.
March 10th, 1889.
I am afraid I cannot give any very definite reply to your questions.
(1) " Had I any idea of the house being haunted ? " No ; and I do nob
think it is supposed to be haunted. Mrs. K. has said that at times it lias
seemed to her as if there was someone else in the room besides herself, but I
think that is a feeling that has come to most peoplo some time or other.
(2) " Did we see it simultaneously ? " That I cannot exactly say, but I
should think yes, for we neither of us said anything till Mrs. K. called out
to me to know if I had been in the drawing-room.
I called on Mrs. Knott with Major Jebb, on February 27th, 1889, and
heard her account of the incident, and inspected the landing where the
figure was seen. The landing is very small and narrow, but well
lighted by a wide uncurtained window at the top of the stairway,
between the first and second floors. The figure was seen on the first
floor. A real person could not have passed the two ladies on the stairs
without considerable difficulty, and it seems impossible that a real
person could have passed out of the room again without detection.
Mrs. Knott has occupied rooms in the same house for about three
and a-half years.
Here we may almost see the story of a haunted house in the making.
The essential elements are there. We have the visionary figure seen by
two persons at once, and the mysterious feeling of an alien presence in
the room. It is quite possible that the latter circumstance would have
passed unrecorded, and even unnoticed, but for the subsequent phantasm,
through which it gained a retrospective importance. It is not im-
probable that in this case the phantasm was a hallucination actually
generated by the same state which gave rise to the eerie feelings ; as in
other cases the phantasm may have been the product of the uneasiness
and vague alarm caused by inexplicable noises. That there is a con-
stant tendency for mysterious sounds to bring visual hallucinations in
their train we see in many of the stories. And what the experience of
the moment has failed to produce, the narrator's imagination after the
lapse of many years may sometimes prove competent to supply. In the
story, for instance, printed in the Journal, Vol. II., pp. 385, et seq.,
(G. 182), to which I have already referred (p. 237), the only pheno-
mena recorded on first-hand evidence are auditor}'. But the narrative
originally appeared in a newspaper, and as there printed contained
an account at first-hand of an apparition of the orthodox kind —
a figure in military uniform, gaunt and haggard. But the per-
cipient was only a child at the time of the alleged appearance, and
the account was published nearly half a century afterwards. In correct-
1889.] from Another Point of View. 251
ing his narrative for us he requested that this episode might be omitted.
With a witness a little less conscientious or a little more imaginative,
the figure might have remained as the brightest ornament of the story.
The weakness of second-hand testimony to apparitions is also well
exemplified in this story. The same witness reported two other
appearances of a headless woman at second-hand. But on going to the
original sources, we find that in neither case was anything seen ; a
horrible presence was felt on one occasion, and steps were heard leaving
the room on the other.
The following case (G. 186) presents in many respects a typical
instance of a good haunted house, and I therefore welcomed the oppor-
tunity afforded me in 1888 of sleeping in the house, and of introducing
other members of the Society. This unfortunately, however, led
to no result. The case is, as it will be seen, very recent, and
apparitions seem to have been seen independently by two people.
Altogether, if any of these cases of wholly unrecognised apparitions
haunting houses are to be attributed to post-mortem agencies this would
have a fair claim to such origin. I am myself, however, disposed to
adopt the explanation above suggested, viz., that the figures seen were
hallucinations, due to alarm caused by mysterious sounds.
0. 186. From Mrs. G., the landlady of a London lodging-house.
May 15thf 1888.
1 came into this house at the end of September, 1887. On the first night
1 slept with a friend in the back drawing-room. We both heard in the course
of the night a rustling sound in the front room, as if several ladies in silk
dresses were walking round the room.
On several occasions after this, when sleeping in the little room on the
second floor, facing the top of the stairs, I heard these rustling noises again,
and a noise as if several people were coming upstairs. I remember once
thinking Mr. Guthrie had brought some people home to sleep, and wondering
what they would find to eat for breakfast. At the same time I saw a faint
greenish light, as if from a flame which I could not see, coming up the stairs
and disappearing into Mr. Guthrie's room. Once I thought (I was sleeping
with my door open then) that I heard someone come into the room, breathing
very heavily, like a pig. I did not speak. The next morning Mr. Guthrie
asked what I was doing in their room the night before, and I said, " I was just
going to ask you the same question. " He told me he had not been into my
room. After this I got frightened and locked my door, and then I used to
hare two candles alight in the room whilst I slept.
One Tuesday night, about the end of November, I tliink, I woke up
at 1 a.m. with a feeling that someone was in the room. I had my face
to the wall, but I turned round and saw between the bed and wall [a dis-
tance of three or four feet only], just opposite to me, the figure of a woman
apparently about fifty, dark hair and eyes, a red dress and a mob cap. I looked
at her and asked her what she wanted. She bent her head slowly back,
And I saw what I thought at first was a very wide mouth. Then I saw that
252 Phantasms of the Bead [Nov. 29,
hor throat was cut. I was very frightened, the perspiration came out on me
like peas, and I called out to her in the name of the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Ghost, to go away. She did not atir, however, and I remained
looking at her by the light of the two candles in the room, too frightened at
first to put out my hand and rap on the partition with the stick which Mr.
Guthrie had lent me for the purpose. At last I managed to give two quiet
knocks. Then I heard the two gentlemen knocking at my door, and the
figure slowly vanished like a shadow. I got out of bed all shaking and
trembling, and went with them downstairs and spent the rest of the night in
the drawing-room. My bedroom on the second floor has remained empty
since.
From Mr. I. Guthrie, a lodger in the house.
May 10th, 1888.
The curious circumstance which you have asked me to relate hap-
pened between the hours of one and two in the morning about Christmas-
time.
On the night referred to I lay down to rest about my usual time, between
11 and 12. About the time mentioned I awoke suddenly to hear tho
noise as of a person in a silk dress moving away quietly from the side of my
bod. It continued moving until I heard it stop in the adjoining bedroom.
Immediately the sound stopped I heard the woman who was sleeping in
that room begin to speak ; it was, to me, as if she was trying to wake her
little son, aged nine, who slept with her. All this time I was conscious that
our old friend the ghost, seen before and expected again, had once more
condescended to visit us. But a strange weakness in the legs, to which I am
subject in moments like these, prevented my rising until a hurried knocking
— not very loud— was heard on the wall. At the sound my strength came
back t > me, and I sprang out of bed, pulled my brother out of his bed,
opened the two doors leading to [the passage and] the door of the next bed-
room, at which we knocked. It was at once opened to us, and the woman
appeared carrying a lighted candle in her hand, and in a state of extreme
agitation bordering on prostration. She was trembling so much that she
was scarcely able to stand ; the perspiration rolled from her in great drojw.
The small room was completely illuminated by two or three candles. Her
story was as follows : —
She awoke hearing movements as of a person fumbling about the room.
On looking up she saw by the side of her bed a woman standing in a red dress,
seemingly about 50 years of age, and with a curious cap on. She fell to
praying and addressed the apparition. When at length she liad gained the
courage to knock and we were to be heard approaching the door, the appari-
tion leaned back against the wall and seemed to fade away, showing at the
same time a deep cut across the throat almost separating the head from tho
torso.
My brother and I, after seeing to the safety of the woman, searched the
whole house thoroughly, but without effect, as we could see and hear nothing.
At this distance of time I can remember a curious dancing light which
we noticed on the stairs ami which we remarked at the time, but did
not trace it.
Tho strangeness of the foregoing lie3 in the fact that tho woman and 1
1889.] from Another Point of View. 253
were both awakened at the same time by the same noise, that I should hear
the noise going to her room and stopping there, and that she should hear the
sound as in her room. Her story appeared to me to agree perfectly with
what I heard and what I felt was going on in her room.
We came into the house in October, 1887, and for the first four months I
and others had been troubled with noises (especially in my case the silk dress
sound) and mysterious awakenings during the night. Someone in every
room in the house complained similarly. On two occasions at least — one I
can swear to — I am perfectly certain I saw an apparition in my room. I
was mysteriously awakened in the usual manner, and on lifting my eyes saw
distinctly in the middle of the room a moderately tall female form, clearly
defined and dark as of a real body, which on my looking at it moved towards
me down the room and out through the closed doors, the rustling noise dying
away in the distance. I liave not seen or heard anything for some months,
but lately there have again been complaints from others in the house.
This, in brief, is my account.
I. Guthrie.
June 26tfi, 1888.
In reply to your two questions I beg to inform you that never had I reason
to suppose I had heard or seen anything supernatural before October last.
I. GUTHUIE.
From Mr. D. Guthrie.
May 15th, 1888.
In consequence of the noises that had been heard by my brother, the
landlady, and others, we had been sleeping with swords by our sides for
several nights previous to the night I am writing about. On that night I
was awakened by my brother, who threw the bedclothes from me, exclaiming,
to the best of my recollection, " I've seen it." Since then, I must tell you,
he says he didn't say so and didn't see it, only felt conscious of it and heard
it. This is, however, my account of the affair — not his. As I sprang out of
bed I heard my landlady speaking in a strange manner in her own room,
which is separated from mine by a wooden partition. My brother and I lit
a candle ; opening the two doors and reaching the landing was the work of
an instant, and standing on the landing I distinctly saw a wavering light,
like the reflection of, say, sunlight, moving down the staircase wall. As soon
as our landlady could present herself she opened her door, which was locked,
as both of out3 had been ; when she appeared she was trembling from head
to foot, and with perspiration dropping from her face. She had all the
appearance of a person who has just seen an awful sight. We saw her down
to the drawing-room door, which was also locked when she got to it, and
made a considerable noise in opening, and we then proceeded with candles
and swords to search the house, which we did from top to bottom, with the
exception of the drawing-room, which had been locked, and Miss H. 's bed-
room, which was inaccessible to us, but we looked round the sitting-room
adjoining. All our searching proved fruitless, and the mystery of the light
is as yet unexplained.
The noises and apparition I have never been favoured with, and but for
having seen the light I would never have given the sublet ^ &Qeox&^o>a^&\
254 Phantasms of (he Dead [Not JJ,
but I fed confident that that light wai not caused by the reflection of ev
-candle, and am unable to suggest any eolation of it that would be ssthfartnrj
to myself.
D. Gumn.
May VltK 1B8&
As far as I remember my brother saw a dark figure (woman *■) mow
down the centre of the room, approaching from the window to the door and
rustling past him. He wakened with what he calls the " feeling " thattoaw-
thing was about the room, and immediately this figure began to more towirfi
his bed and past it.
D. Groan.
May 28th, lm.
It is impossible for me to remember when my brother told me. He would
be likeliest to speak to me about it when we were dressing next morning,
but I am not prepared to assert that he did so.
D. GUTHBIB.
From Miss EL
May 28*, 168a
According to your request that I should give you an account of what I
heard on the night referred to in the account you hare received already
from my aunt [i.e., the first night spent in the house].
As far as I remember I was awakened by a strange noise, like the rustling
of silk, or silk handkerchiefs.
I was too frightened to look up at the time, and cannot remember when.
I fell asleep again. This has been repeated several times since.
June 28ft, 1888.
On Wednesday last, the 20th inst. , I went to bed at about my usual time,
11.30 p.m. or a little later, and, as far as I know, in my usual health. My
aunt, Mrs. G., and I occupy one bed, she sleeping next to the walL I
suddenly woke up, to find myself sitting upright in bed. I have no recollec-
tion of having been dreaming. It was just beginning to dawn (the time, as
I found out afterwards, must have been between 2 and 3 a.m.), and I saw,
standing up bo near that I could have touched it, a tall woman's figure dressed
in black, so that I could distinguish no features. I was rather frightened, and
spoke to my aunt and tried to wake her, but could not succeed; The figure
moved slowly away from me towards the window (the bed faced the window)
and finally disappeared, as it were into the strip of wall between the window
and the fireplace. I did not get to sleep again for some time. After about
an hour, as near as I can judge, I got up to see what the time was and found
it was just 4 a.m. After my aunt got up, about 5 a.m., I dropped off to
sleep again.
I had, of course, heard what Mr. Guthrie saw, and what my aunt saw,
before Christmas. But I don't think that my mind had been dwelling upon
it at all lately ; indeed, I had almost forgotten it. And until this week I
had hardly known anything about the people who were coming to sleep in
my aunt's old room, so I don't think there was anything to call op the idem
18S9.] from Another Point of View. 255
of the ghost in my mind. I was quite well, too, and I had never seen anything
else of the kind. I never remember to have either seen or heard anything
except in this house — anything that was not really there.
1 have not heard any of the noises lately, not since Christmas in
fact.
[Signed in full] M. E. H.
Mrs. G. stated that these inexplicable noises had been heard by two
successive lodgers on the drawing-room floor, and that the first had
left in consequence. The other at the beginning of May, 1888, told
Mrs. G. that she had seen an apparition — the figure of a woman
in a red dress — in her bedroom in the course of the previous night.
We have not been able to trace either of these persons.
It will be observed that noises, which may have been due to normal
causes, had been prevalent in the house throughout its occupation by
the narrators, who appear to have been considerably disturbed by
them. Indeed, that the landlady had been much alarmed is proved by
the fact that Mr. Guthrie had lent her a stick to rap the wall, in case
*he should be again disturbed in the night. Mrs. G.'s vision and Mr.
Guthrie's are apparently independent. Miss H., however, saw nothing
until long after, when the experiences of the others had been matter
of common talk in the household for months. Her evidence cannot,
therefore, be considered as possessing much corroborative value. More-
over, the apparition differed materially from that seen by Mrs. G. It
should, however, be stated as regards both tliis case and that which
immediately follows, as a fact of some importance in assessing the
part played by expectancy in generating hallucination, that many
members and associates of the Society for Psychical Research and
friends introduced by them have slept in both houses, in some cases for
•everal nights consecutively, with a full knowledge that inexplicable
phenomena had been recently observed. Nothing unusual has, how-
ever, been seen in either house by any person connected with the
Society ; nor, with one or two doubtful exceptions, have any inexplic-
able sounds been heard.1 The same may be said of the houses described
i& the Journal, Vol. II., pp. 196, et seq., and Vol. III., pp. 241, et seq.
(Oi. 314). This fact, however, will appear less significant if we
bear in mind that, as our evidence in this and other directions
tends to show, the proportion of persons who are readily susceptible to
impressions of this kind is not very large ; and that the persons who are
most sensitive would, it is certain, in most cases be unwilling to expose
themselves to such an ordeal as sleeping in a " haunted " house.
The following case (G. 187) is remarkable because two successive
KtB of occupants of the house, without any communication with each
1 See Appendix.
25G Phantasms of the Dead [Nov. 29,
other, or any conscious knowledge on the part of the second set that
the first set had had experiences, were " haunted " by sounds and sights.
The whole has occurred since 1882. We have the first-hand testimony
of most of the principal witnesses, and have had the opportunity of
talking over their experiences with them. One tenant was fairly driven
out of the house by the " ghosts/7 Here, too, there is a recent and
well-evidenced tragedy, though its connection with the apparitions and
noises is not very clearly established, and does not, I think, make very
strongly for the hypothesis of post-mortem agency. The first account
comes to us from Miss L. Morris, whose address is withheld lest it should
lead to the identification of the house. Miss Morris writes in June,
1888 :—
G. 187. June, 1888.
It was at the latter end of October, 1882, that we decided on taking a
small house on a lease, looking forward to taking possession of it and
furnishing it, with great expectations of future happiness, and longing for
the day to come to enter it. On the day in question we arrived late in tho
afternoon, and occupied ourselves in arranging and putting finishing touches
to tho furniture, amusing ourselves, and laughing, as we wore in high spirits
over our luck in finding just the little house to suit us. That same evening,
about a quarter to 10, I happened to be alone in the front drawing-room,
when for the first time in my life I heard, without seeing anyone, heavy foot-
steps tramping round tho drawTing-room table, at which I was reading.
Naturally I was surprised, as I had never read or believed in anything super-
natural. A few minutes later my eldest sister comes and sits by my side,
when suddenly she exclaims, turning pale, " Charlotte, there is some one who
has got into the house, walking about upstairs. I heard such a noise, like a
door banging to." We were alone at the time, excepting a little child
sleeping above, and my sister had never fancied such a thing before. I
replied, "Oh, it's fancy." "No, I heard it again; listen !" At which I
said, " I will take up the poker with my lamp ; you come too, and we will
see." "No," she said, "I am afraid to go up, and will stop here." So-
saying in fun, "I will go, and not be afraid, though 10,000 men are
against me ! " I flew upstairs, and searched everywhere — discovered nothing
— descended alone to the basement, but with the same result.
We lauglied at our fears, and went to our rooms, but that night I could not
sleep at all, for incessantly round and round the room, and up and down the
stairs, I heard these ceaseless and unwearying footsteps. I slept, and they
woke me again, making me light my candle, and look about me, and outside
the room, to see if I could discover the reason for the strange ounds. Putting
it down to noises in the adjacent house, I blew out my light, and again closed
my eyes, but was awoke an hour after by feeling someone in the room, and
again hearing the measured footsteps. I controlled my fears by not lighting
my candle, and tried, though in vain, to sleep. I said nothing about the
occurrence to anyone the next day, but kept what I thought must have been
fancy to myself. Still, the same experience happened to me each night, till
I got accustomed to it, not allowing myself to give way to fears which,
1889.] from Another Point of View. 257
because unseen, could not be explained, till an experience most un-
foreseen and strange occurred.
It was three weeks since we had occupied the house and it was about five
o'clock one afternoon in November, and so light that I had no need of the
gas to enable me to read clearly some music I was practising, and which
engrossed my whole attention and thought. Having forgotten some new
waltzes I had laid on the music shelf in the back drawing-room, I left the
piano, and went dancing gaily along, singing a song as I went, when suddenly
there stood before me, preventing me getting the music, the figure of a
woman, heavily robed in deepest black from the head to her feet ; her face
was intensely sad and deadly pale. There she stood, gazing fixedly at me.
Hie song died on my lips ; the door, I saw, was firmly closed where she
stood, and still I could not speak. At last I exclaimed, "Oh, auntie, I
thought it was you ! " believing at the moment she or some strange visitor
•tood before me, when suddenly she vanished.
Thinking it was a trick practised on me, and trembling violently, I went
lack, not getting the waltzes, to my piano, which I closed, and rushing
ipstairs, found my aunt alone in her room, my sisters and the servant being
i «it "Did you not come into the drawing-room?" I asked her. "No,"
| the replied, " I have never left my room ; I am coming down now, though.'*
1 it we were alone, I saw no trick had been played upon me, and my strange
r Tkkm was not imagination.
I Not wishing to alarm my aunt, I did not communicate my strange experi-
\ «oce to her, nor did I relate it subsequently to my sisters or any friends,
thinking, as they could not account for it, they would not believe me if I did,
» I kept it as a secret for three years, though I longed to disclose it to some
friend who would believe me, and not make fun at what troubled me so
*nch ; when another, though different, circumstance occurred, which puzzled
■ all, and which we have never yet proved.
It was in June, 1884, that our hall-door bell began to ring incessantly and
violently. We had frequently heard at intervals a ring, and discovered no
«e was at the door, but this especially annoyed us, and puzzled everyone
•side and outside the house by the noise repeatedly made. We had always
pit it down to "a runaway ring" and took no notice, but for three weeks,
*t intervals of a quarter of an hour or half an hour, it rang unceasingly, and
■ch peals, it electrified us. We put ourselves on guard and carefully watched,
Weying it a trick. We had everyone up from the basement, out of connec-
| *» with the wire, in the front drawing-room, and placed the hall door and
■r doors wide open ; it was the same result: loud and piercing peals from
i fcbeU, which, at last, after three weeks, we had taken off, when we saw tho
, *ttt in connection with it vibrated as if the bell was attached to it. There
*We also loud knocks at the door, and no one there when we went to answer;
**U repeatedly heard loud knocks at my own room door the whole time I was
! ■ the house. Though my aunt could not understand the communication I
■fated to her, she would not believe me, and laughed at my "imaginative
■tones." A few afternoons later, I was having tea with her (we had sent
| 4* lurid out shopping) when she exclaimed, "There's a double knock at tho
f «■*." I ran to open it ; on my way along, I noticed the front and back
Rating-room doors were firmly closed, as I remembered shutting them a$
r
L
258 Phantasms of the Dead [Nov. 29,
usual when we took tea in the breakfast-room adjoining. On answering the
door, no one was there, and on returning, I found the back drawing-room
door half wide open. I exclaimed to my aunt, "Oh, you have been in the
drawing-room ! " " I have never got up from the table," she said. I replied,
" The door was wide open which I shut!" to which she said, "What non-
sense will you be talking next?" and there the matter dropped.
A few months later I had gone to rest. It was about 2 a.m. I was
awoke by a tremendous knock at my door, and the handle turning. Having
a light I sprang out of bed, being close to the door, angry, and being deter-
mined to catch whoever it might be. No one was there ! and on looking
across to my sisters' room I saw their door was wide open. Believing it
was a trick on their part, and being annoyed at having been disturbed, I
waited till the next morning, when I accused them of the trick, but was
amazed to find they had been startled in the same way, and put it down to
a dog having opened their door, but they found he was asleep, and they had
previously heard footsteps, and were too frightened to move. They also
both heard the door opened. They assured me they had never come to my
door or knocked at it, and I could see they were too startled to be acting an
untruth. In fact, my sister, though older than I, would not sleep alone in
that house by herself after.
Another occurrence happened a few months later in the year 1885, in the
winter. I was alone in the house with my aunt, and had gone (the servant
being out) to fetch some wood from the kitchen cupboard. Having got all
I wanted to re-light the fire, which had gone out in the drawing-room, 1
shut to the door and locked it, when from the inside came a tremendous
knock, which so startled me I quickly ran upstairs, when repeatedly, as if
beneath my feet from the cupboard, I felt loud knocks as plainly as at the
door I had just closed. I had previously laid and brought the supper, when
just before going to my aunt to say all was ready, in the hall from the
kitchen into the housekeeper's room (front room on basement), I saw a
woman robed in black slowly and distinctly walk. (It moved like gliding.)
She was walking before me, a* it were, down in the hall. Believing it was
my aunt, I went straight to the drawing-room, and found her deeply
interested in her work-book, and found she had not gone downstairs that
evening. To her I did not communicate tins, as she was not well.
A little time after she fell ill, having long been suffering, and when a
little later on we lost her to our grief, wo left the house altogether, as oar
lease had expired just about that time ; but I give my testimony I never
knew one happy day in it, for I could not forget the peculiar experiences bo
frequently happening, and which seemed to haunt me wherever I went
about in it, and which I accounted for by the communication confided in
mo by a friend of the fact of a woman having a few years back hung
herself there.
I saw Miss L. Morris on July 9th, 1888. She explained to me tha^
she and her aunt (dead) were the regular occupants of the hous*
from October, 1882, to December, 1886. Two sisters came to sta]
occasionally, and slept, when they came, in the little "off" room om
lower level than the other bedrooms. She believes that after thei
1889.] from Another Point of View. 259
departure the house remained empty until Mrs. G. took it. The tenant
before her was a Miss E. Miss L. Morris learnt from her that she
(Miss R) had heard or seen nothing abnormal during her stay in the
house. Miss L. Morris, who is rather deaf, has had no other hallucinations.
She told me that they had the boards taken up to trace the cause, if
possible, of the bell-ringing, but could discover nothing. She and her
sister had frequently watched the front door when the bell was ringing
violently. Miss E. M. Morris told me of two occasions (one described
in Miss L. Morris's account ) on which, when she and her other sister
were sleeping in the little back room, their door was opened in tho
night at the same time that Miss L. Morris, sleeping in another room,
was disturbed by noises. Miss E. M. Morris also confirmed her sister's
account of the bell ringing.
From December, 1886, until November of the following year the
house remained empty. It was then taken by Mrs. G., a widow lady
with two children, girls of about 9 and 10 respectively, and one
maid-servant. Mrs. G. had only come to X. about six months
before taking the house, and was entirely ignorant that anything
unusual had happened there. The account which follows, written at
Mr. Gurney's request, in June, 1888, was compiled with the help of a
diary, in which she had jotted down from day to day brief notices of any
unusual occurrence. This diary she kindly permitted me to inspect, and
some extracts from it, copied by me, are printed after the account.
The names given to the children in this account are fictitious, and
the same names have been substituted for the real ones in the extracts
from the diary.
From Mrs. G.
It was towards the end of November, 1887, I took a pretty house
. . . in the South of England. I had never been in that locality
before, and knew no one at all in that neighbourhood, although I had for
the last six months been living in another part of the town ; my dear hus-
htnd, an officer in the army, dying there (he had been badly wounded in the
Mutiny), I resolved to go into a quieter part of the town and take a less
expensive house.
We had not been more than a fortnight in our new home (it was in
December) when I was aroused by a deep sob and moan. " Oh," I thought,
'»hat has happened to the children?" I rushed in, their room being at
the back of mine ; found them sleeping soundly. So back to bed I went,
*hen again another sob, and such a thump of somebody or something very
tavy. " What can be the matter ? " I sat up in bed, looked all round the
'oom, then to my horror a voice (and a very sweet one) said, " Oh, do forgive
"to • " three times. I could stand it no more ; I always kept the gas burn-
Utyft turned it up, and went to the maid's room. She was fast asleep, so I
■took her well, and asked her to come into my room. Then in five minutes
toe aobs and moans recommenced, and the heavy tramping of feet, and such
tounps, like heavy boxes of plate being thrown about. She suggest*
260 Phantasnis of the Dead [Nov. 29,
should ring the big bell I always keep in my room, but I did not like to
alarm the neighbourhood. (4Oh, do, ma'am, I am sure there are burglars
next door, and they will come to us next." Anything but pleasant, on a
bitter cold night, standing bell in hand, a heavy one, too, awaiting a burglar.
Well, I told her to go to bed, and hearing nothing for half-an-hour, I got
into mine, "nearly frozen with cold and fright. But no sooner had I got warm
than the sobs, moans, and noises commenced again. I heard the policeman's
steady step, and I thought of the words, " What of the night, Watchman ?
what of the night ?" If he only could have known what we, a few paces off,
were going through. Three times I called Anne in, and then in the morning
it all died away in a low moan. Directly it was daylight, I looked in the
glass to see if my hair had turned white from the awful night I spent. Very
relieved was I to find it still brown.
Of course nothing was said to the children, and I was hoping I should
never experience such a thing again. I liked the house, and the children
were so bonny. I had too much furniture for that small house, so stowed it
away in the room next to the kitchen, and we used the small room at the
top of the kitchen stairs as a dining-room, and then I had a pretty double
drawing-room, where I always stayed. Still the children had no play-room,
and no place for their doves. I therefore had most of the furniture and boxes
taken out and put in the back kitchen. It seems from that day our troubles
commenced, for the children were often alarmed by noises and a crash of
something, and did not like sleeping alone. I felt a little uncomfortable,
and thought it was all rather strange, but had so much business affairs to
settle, having no one else to help me, that I had not much time to think.
I was in the drawing-room deeply thinking about businoss matters, when
I was startled by Edith giving such a scream. I ran to the door, and found
her running up, followed by Florence and the servant, the child so scared
and deadly white, and could hardly breathe. " Oh, Birdie dear, I have seen
such a dreadful white face peeping round the door ! I only saw the head. I
was playing witli Floss (dog), and looking up, I saw this dreadful thing.
Florence and Anne rushed in at once, but saw nothing." I pacified them by
saying someone was playing a trick by a magic lantern, but after that for
months they would not go upstairs or down alone.
It was very tiresome, and thinking seriously over the matter, I resolved
to return my neighbour's call, which she honoured me with the day after the
first terrible night. I was ushered into the presence of two portly dames,
and I should think they had arrived at that age not given to pranks. I
looked at them, and mentally thought, " That sweet voice does not belong to
either of you." They informed me they had lived in that house 18 years, so I
thought I might venture to ask whether anything had ever taken place of a
disagreeable nature in my house, as we were so constantly alarmed by heavy
noises, and that my eldest daughter, aged 10, had seen a dreadful white face
looking round the door at her, and of course I should be glad to know ; that
as far as I was concerned, I feared nothing and no one, but if my children
were frightened I should leave, but I liked the house very much, and thought
perhaps I might buy it. They said, " Don't do that, but there is nothing to
hurt you," and I saw sundry nods and winks which meant more, so in des-
jwration I said, " Won't you tell mo what has occurred?" "Well, a few
1889.] from Another Point of View. 261
years ago, the bells commenced to ring, and there was quite a commotion,
bat then the former tenant, a Miss M., had a wicked servant." The other
dame replied, " I may say, a very wicked servant." Well, I could not get
much more, but of course I imagined this very wicked servant had done
something, and felt very uneasy.
On my return, Edith said, "Oh, dear, I have seen such a little woman
para, and I often hear pitter patter ; what is it ? Of course magic lanterns
couldn't do that." So I said nothing, and said I was too tired to talk.
That night I felt a very creeping feeling of shivering, and thought I would
have Florence to sleep with me, so when I went to bed about 10, I carried
her in wrapped up in a shawl, leaving Edith asleep with the maid. .It was
about 11 ; I had tucked my little pet in and was about to prepare to go
to deep, when it seemed as if something electric was in the room, and that
the ceiling and roof were coming on the top of us. The bed was shaken,
*nd such a thump of something very heavy. I resolved not to risk my
child's life again, for whatever it was came down on me, she would be safe in
the next room with the others, but I dreaded going to bed, as I never knew
what might happen before the morning.
We had a dreadful night, December 29th, such heavy thumps outside the
bedrooms, and went to Mr. W., the agent, intending to tell him we must leave,
or we should be bereft of our senses, but I was too late ; the office was shut,
*> I went to friends and asked them to come and sleep, as I really was too
unnerved to remain alone on New Year's Eve. They kindly came. Mrs. L.
8*id she heard knocks. They returned home the next morning, having a
young family to look after. I then wrote to a sister-in-law I was fond of at
Cheltenham, and she came for a week, but everything was quiet. January
18th, I heard three loud knocks at my bedroom door. I was too terrified to
speak for a minute, and then called out, "Who's there? What do you
want ? " My terror was intense, for I thought, supposing it is a burglar !
^ was a great relief to hear the children call out : " Birdie, who is knocking
*tyour door ? " "I wish I could tell you." A fortnight previously I asked
* policeman on duty if he would see if any one was in the empty house. He
c*me to tell me it was securely fastened, and no one could get in. Then I
suggested coiners under the houses, but he said they only go to old castles.
"Well, then what is it? " He said a sad occurrence had taken place some
years ago. I said, " Oh, dreadful ! " but he was matter-of-fact was Police-
^X., and replied, "It is an e very-day thing, and no doubt most of the
•totwes people lived in something has happened in." " But," I said, " this is
^h a very strange house, and we have no rest either by day or night, and
fhy should this dreadful white face appear to my child ? " Well, he didn't
f^ieve in ghosts. " Very well," I said, •' will you kindly catch whoever it
"frightening us, and let them be well punished ? " " But, madam, I can't
*fcb nothing ! " " Right, Policeman X., I knew that was impossible, but
Wa*t am I to do ? " So he suggested detectives, but that wouldn't do.
♦ . . I found that house very expensive, and I had to keep the gas
taming downstairs and up all night. I asked a young friend from
Richmond to stay, a clergyman's daughter. She laughed at such a thing as &
|W. We both went up the trap-door and explored the space over the bed-
oom, and next to the roof ; it was very dark, but I took a candle, and thei
262 Phantasms of the Dead [Not. 29,
covered three holes an Urge as a plate between my house and the old ladies'.
The next morning I walked down to the landlord who owns both houses, and
told him again what we were continually going through and that I and
my children were getting ill, and that it was quite impossible to lire in the
house. He came up on the following day, and told me that a woman had
hanged herself, he thought, in the room the children slept in. The holes
were filled up, and I thought now nothing can come in to alarm us. What
puzzled my friend was that the two old dames being invalids should go out
in the snow and wet between 9 and 10 most nights in their garden ; it
certainly was odd, but, of course, they had a right to do what they liked in
their own house, only they banged the back door ; when Anne locked up she
scarcely made a sound.
Florence was often saying to her eldest sister, " You see it was your
imagination, for I never see anything." " Wait till you do, you won't forget
it ! " The next morning, as Florence was passing the room on the stairs,
she Maw a man standing by the window staring fixedly ; blue eyes, dark brown
hair, and freckles. She rushed up to me, looking very white and frightened ;
the house was searched at once, and nothing seen.
I had forgotten to mention that the night after the knocks came to my
bedroom I resolved that the dog, who is very sharp, should sleep outside,
but oh, tliat was worse than all, for at a quarter past 12 I looked at my
clock. He commenced to cry, it was not exactly howling, and tore at the
carpet in a frantic manner. I threw my fur cloak on, threw the door wide
open, and demanded what was the matter. The i>oor little animal was so
delighted to see mo ; I saw ho had biscuits and water, and the children were
then awake, and asked me why Floss was making that noise. I went to bed,
and in 10 minutes he recommenced. I went out three times, and then made
up my mind not to move again, for I felt so cold and angry.
Another night something seemed to walk to the children's door, and turn
tho handle, walk up to the washstand, shake the bed, and walk out. It
really was enough to shake anyone's nerves. My sister and brother-in-law,
Mr. B., came for a couple of nights, but that was when I first went in. They
heard nothing. I then had my husband's first wife's sister, who is very fond
of mo, to stay over Easter. She, fortunately, did not hear anything.
Tho children frequently saw lights in thoir bedroom, generally white, and
Florenco one night saw a white skirt hanging from the ceiling. She was so
frightened that sho put her head under the clothes, and would not look again.
Then my solicitor and his wife came down for a night, for he was very
kind about my business matters, as I understand so little about money
matters, so ho came to advise me. Mrs. C. could not go to sleep until four,
as she hoard bucIi a heavy fall outside her bedroom door.
One Sunday I was reading by tho fire in the drawing-room, and thinking
it was very cosy, when I hoard a cry, and thinking it one of the children
ill, was going upstairs. Edith called out, " Birdie, come quickly; something
has opened and shut our door three times, and some one is crying." I went
up, and wo all heard someone sobbing, but where it came from we could
not toll, but Hoemod near the wall.
One day, when 1 was out, the children were playing with Anne in the
room (lownsUiirs ; they all distinctly hoard a very heavy footfall walk across
1889.] from Another Point of View. 263
s
the drawing-room, play two notes on the piano, and walk out. I came in
shortly after, astonished to see them, candle in hand, looking under the beds.
It was a dreadful time.
March 3rd I was writing in the drawing-room, when the front door bell
rang violently. I asked who it was ; "No one, ma'am." I thought I would
stand by the window, and presently it rang again ; down the servant came,
no one there, and after the third time I told her not to go to the door unless
she heard a knock as well. I knew no one had pulled the bell, as I was
standing by the window.
I then had an interview with Miss M., the former tenant, who told me she
had gone through preciselywhat I had, but had said very little about it, for
fear of being laughed at. I was far too angry to take notice whether anyone
laughed or not. Miss M. said one afternoon between four and live she was
in very good spirits, and was playing the piano, and as she crossed the room
a figure enveloped in black, with a very white face, and such a forlorn look,
stood before her, and then it faded away. She was so terrified, but did not
tell anyone about it. For some time after she was ill from fright on two
occasions, but her aunt being old did not care to move, and she was too
much attached to her to leave. It was satisfactory to find some one else had
gone through what we were daily experiencing. March 20th. I was resting
in the drawing-room, when as I thought, I heard Edith's voice say tliree
times, "Darling ! " I ran downstairs, much to their astonishment, and said,
*' Well, what is it now ? " They replied, " We were coming directly, why did
you come down ?" " Well, that is cool ; why did you call me ? " " But we
didn't ; you called to us to put on our hate at once as you were going into
the town." Anne said she distinctly heard me say it when I had not even
spoken. I believe it was that same night as they were going upstairs to bed,
they saw a white figure standing by the little room. How I hated that room !
Well, then friends suggested I should have the floors up, the chimneys
taken out to see if there was any communication to the other house, and the
door taken away, and a new one put. One friend offered to lend me a
mastiff which flew at everything ; another offered mo his savage bull-dog,
which was always chained up when I called there, and then last, but not
least, I was to have two detectives. "Well," I thought, "it is time to
move ; in this bitter weather to have no floors, no grates, no door, a
ferocious mastiff, and still worse a bull-dog and two detectives, a pretty state
of affairs for any one ! " I asked my landlord to release me, but he would
not unless I paid my rent up to Christmas.
Having had very heavy expenses all the year, I thought I would if possible
stay till September, as the evenings would be light, and we should be out
all day, but even that I was not allowed to do, for coming home from paying
visits, I found Florence looking deathly white, and in a very nervous state,
and in breathless haste she said she had seen the same face, but the figure
was crawling in the little room as if it would spring on her. I at once called
on my doctor, who advised me to take the children away as soon as possible,
and let them be amused, so I left my servant and her father in charge, locked
my bedroom door, and took the key, went to London, where Edith was so ill
that I bad to call in Dr. F. , and as soon as she was better I thought I would
remain a week longer, making three weeks, so that e>\\e m\^& ^o to ^ <£vroa&
*1
264 Phantasms of the Dead [Nov, 29,
nnd be amused, and forget the frights ; but even that I wasn't allowed to
do, for on Monday I received a letter from my servant to Bay they could not
stay in the house any longer, for since her father left, her mother and sister
had slept with her, and they were all startled one night by hearing someone
walk upstairs, throw paper down, and run after it, and the next night some
one knocked loudly at my bedroom door, walked and moved all the furniture
about, and nothing was moved, and that in consequence they had locked up
the house, taking the doves and Floss with them, and leaving food enough
for the two cats for three days. I got up early, very much annoyed about
the horrid house, packed and came back with the children, May the 8th.
Fortunately, Edith kept well. My banker's wife kindly met me at the station,
and made me go back with the children to lunch. I telegraphed to my servant
to meet me at the house, and Mrs. L. and I went to look at my present
abtxle, and that afternoon agreed to take it from the 10th inst. Mrs. L.
came up to sleep, and says she heard such thumps and bumps in the little
room underneath, and a hissing sound round the top of the bed. I paid my
rent and left ; I asked Mr. C. to write and tell the landlord he must let me
off a quarter, as I had been put to a great expense through his house, as we
could not possibly live in it, and we cleared out on the following Thursday.
Such a relief to be free from alarms and noises !
And so ended my sojourn of five months in that very extraordinary house.
All is quite true that I have stated, whether mortal or immortal I know not.
I am glad to say my children are recovering, though Edith is still very weak,
and I am suffering dreadfully from neuralgia, the result of the anxiety and
worry I have gone through. — June 15t/i-, 1888,
Mr. Gurney wrote : —
I had a long talk with Mrs. G. on June 13th, 1888. She went over the
whole history of her and her children's experiences in the house. She struck
me as an excellent witness. I have never received an account in which the
words and manner of telling were less suggestive of exaggeration or super-
stition. There is no doubt that she was simply turned out of a house which
otherwise exactly suited her, at very serious expense and inconvenience.
Extracts from Mrs. G.'s diary.
.January 2nd, 1888. — Anne went home from four to 10. I felt very
nervous being alone with the children, having been ho alarmed with
noises and apparitions before. No. X. [•/.*»., police-constable] came to tell lw*
they had made inquiries, and [no?] strange people came into the empty
house. No noises since Sunday night.
Wednesday, January 18th. — I heard three loud knocks at my bedrwni
door, just as I got into my bed last night. So did the children and Anne J
all very frightened.
January 30th, 1888. — At three this morning I heard soft knocks at my
bedroom door, and the handle certainly was tried. 1 was very much
frightened, but don't want to alarm the children. Shall bring Floss up
to-night.
February 1st.— I went out making calls. The children said they heard
footsteps in the drawing-room before I came in.
1889.] from Another Point of View. 265
February 6th. — Florence saw an apparition in brown at 7.30 a.m. I
wasn't up. Edith was practising, and Anne was doing the grate in the
drawing-room. What can it be ?
February 24th. — Bell rang three times.; no one at the door. [Mrs. G.
told me that she was standing at the window. — F.P.]
March 3rd. — Heard the bell ring about 11. No one at the door.
March 20th. — Was lying down on the sofa, and heard a voice say
*' Darling," then kisses. Ran down to the children, but they were surprised,
not having called me. Said they heard mo call them to get ready to go out.
I had not spoken. And on going to bed they saw a figure in white.
April 9th. — Florence much frightened at apparition. [About five in the
Afternoon. — F. P. ]
(Went to London on the 19th.)
The above are copies of extracts from Mrs. G.'s diary, made by me on
July 8th, 1888. At the same time Mrs. G. told me, in connection with the
noises heard by the children on February 1st, that on the day following she
purposely made her entry into the house very noisy ; she banged the front
door, walked heavily into the drawing-room, banged the lid of the piano,
•' I made as much noise as ever I could," but on going down to the children,
who were in the play-room (front room in basement), she found they had
heard nothing.
On the 6th February Florence, having seeing the apparition in the base-
ment room, where she was alone, ran up to Mrs. G. at once, much frightened.
She described the figure as that of a man, with dark brown hair, blue eyes,
and a freckled face. The figure stared at her, and seemed as if it would stop
as long as she stopped. So she ran away.
Mrs. G. also told me a thing which she had not mentioned in her account
— that she was one morning left alone in the basement room about 10 a.m.,
the children having gone upstairs to wash their hands, and suddenly
looking round, she saw distinctly for a moment two human faces at her
elbow. The apparition vanished instantly. She has had no other hallucina-
tion, either of sight or hearing ; except that about twelve years ago she and
her husband heard some noises, for which they could not account, and which
may have been hallucinatory.
I also saw the children, Edith aged 11, and Florence aged 9. They are
very bright, intelligent children ; the elder very pale and excitable. I could
not examine them at length on what they had seen, as Mrs. G. was very
anxious, Edith having evidently not yet recovered from her illness, that they
should not bo made to attach too much importance to the subject, and I did
not mention the word ghosts, nor did they. They gave me an account
accurately corresponding to their mother's of what they had seen. On two
or three occasions they saw a figure together. But the figure which Edith saw
alone appeared only momentarily and then vanished, whilst Florence's man
with freckles was apparently persistent. Edith described the beautiful hand
placed on the door, which accompanied the " white face." Both were very
positive they had seen something real, and Edith stamped her foot indig-
nantly when her mother suggested " imagination." " Mamm^ >jq\3lVwqw
266 Phantasms of ike Dead [Not.»,
it wasn't imagination ! " They seem now to tore forgotten a good deal of
their fright, and told me they were very sorry to leave the house.— F.P.,
July 9th, 1888.
From Anne H., Mrs. G.'a Servant.
JTum ltta, 188a
We had been in the house nearly three weeks when one night my miatreae
<iame to my room and called me, and said she heard someone screaming and
groaning dreadfully. I went into her room and I heard it too; I thought
someone was being murdered. It seemed in the next house to me, at if
someone was being thrown about dreadfully. Then one afternoon Mi*
Sdith saw a little woman peep round the door at her ; when she looked it vat
gone ; and then one morning Miss Florence was going up the kitchen stain,
she saw a man standing in the little room at the top of the stairs by the side
of the window, looking at her ; and one afternoon saw the same man again*
he was on his hands and knees under the table. We used to hear noissi is
the roof of a night as if someone was up there throwing something abort ;
then it would seem to give a great jump down, and run up and downstair*,
and they tried the handle of the children's door ; we heard something dun*
across the room and back again. The children heard something run across
the room and screw up some paper over by the cupboard in their room, tins
go out again. Then we heard that screaming again; we heard it in th*
children's room this time ; it was most dreadful Then we heard sosie door
shook as if to shake it down ; then it kept bmgmg all night long. We did
not get to sleep till between 11 and 12. Then we used to hear a great
crash every night about 10 o'clock ; it was downstairs in the kitchen. I
used to think everything was being smashed ; then one night it seemed as if
Bomeone was out on the landing slipping about ; then we heard some music ;
it sounded like a musical box to me ; it played three times ; then one night
we all heard three loud knocks at mistress's door ; then the bells used to ring*
When I got upstairs to the front door no one was there. It was the front
door because no one else used to ring. One day it rang three times while I
was dressing. I went down each time, but there was no one there then*
One evening Miss Edith saw some one standing at the top of the kitchen stain,
all in white, peeping at her. Then Miss Florence went back and she saw it
too. One afternoon I was sitting in the kitchen with the door shut ; I heard
someone go creeping upstairs ; I looked up and the door was open ; I went
up directly, but I could not see anything there. Then the same night a*
mistress went to London I heard that screaming again as if they was knocking
someone about dreadfully. There was such a row. Father was in the honWJ
he did not hear anything ; then he felt something breathing on his face ; got
a light and looked about, but he could not see anything. Then he had to go
away ; then my little sister camo in to be with me, and she heard them throw
some i>aper downstairs and run down after it, and bring it up again, ^h®11
I woke up she was crying. I heard the spare room door open two or thro*
times ; I had locked it before I went to bed, because it would not latch ;
then mother came in ; she did not get to sleep all night for the noises ; aha
heard someone go into mistress's room and begin moving the things about,
then something seemed to be in the wall, began tapping about. Then they
moved some paper right over by the cupboard ; then we heard someone jmsp
1889.] from Another Point of View. 267
down outside the spare room door. Then she saw a face ; it seemed to come
right through the wall. Then one night in my bedroom I saw a shadow, it
seemed all in a heap ; it went right along the window and shaded right along
the wall opposite. Then I woke up one night and heard such a row ; it
seemed close to my ear like an alarum. Then a thump in the ceiling one
afternoon. We heard someone go right across the drawing-room and touch
the notes of the piano and go out again.
A, H. (aged 21).
(I talked to Anne H., a clever, intelligent girl, to-day. She gave
me a graphic description of the shadow moving across the window
and wall of her bedroom. Has had no other hallucinations. — F.P., July
9th, 1888.)
From Miss R., Surbiton.
Dear Sir, — In answer to your letter respecting Mrs. G.'s house in
road, all I can tell you is that I was with her when she moved into it
and for a week after, and during that time nothing happened to disturb us
except the bells used to ring, but this we supposed then was done by boys in
the street. I should never have thought of this again if subsequent events
had not made me think of it. Sorry I cannot give you any further informa-
tion.— Yours truly, M. R.
Mrs. G.'s experience in the house appears very quickly to have
become matter of common talk in the town, and in May of the same
year, when the house was empty, a party of three gentlemen obtained
access to it, on two different occasions, for the purposes of investigation.
Their accounts are given below.
From Mr.W. O. D., Barrister-at-Law.
July ltf, 1888.
May 23rd, 1888. — First visit, in company with the Rev. G. O. and Mr. C,
solicitor. Heard a bell ring, which I believe was not rung by any
mundane agency. Subsequently we heard a heavy crash, as it were of
crockery, not produced by any visible means.
May 28th. — Second visit. In company with the same gentlemen herein
before mentioned I saw part of the dress of a super-material being. Mr. O.
and Mr. C, who were in the room before me, saw far more of the form than
I did. After the apparition, the Rev. G. O. performed a ceremony of
exorcism, in which both myself and Mr. C. joined. I have since been to the
house, but did not hear or witness anything unusual. I am firmly convinced
in my own mind that the phenomena we beheld and the noises we heard
were the results of super-material forces.
From the Rev. G. O.
July 3rd, 1888.
I have not kept and can't recall dates, but about a month ago I went to
road, hearing it was haunted. I went with Mr. D. and Mr. C. and the
agent's son, at eight. At 8. 30 we heard bell ringing, \>ut not\\\xv^to «&&was&» \ss*
268 . Phamtmms of the Dead [Not.M,
it. little later on a crash and fall aa of a box or board tumbling down. All
beard tola, three of them being on the ground floor, I on the haaaiamt
A few evenings after we went the second time, at nine o'clock. At UD
or about, aa we were thinking of leaving, and aa we atood in hall, I »*
a form glide from back to front room, and at same time my two frienfc,
who were beside me saw, D. a part of the figure and O. the entire.
This was all I then said prayers for exorcism of the house and rest for
the souls. Since then no more has been heard.
I may add I saw myself, but not distinctly, a small column of sttrfy
vapour on the first occasion, but not being very distinct, and not developing
into anything, I do not enter into it here.
In conversation Mr. D., wbo appeared to be a man of narrow
temperament, and who has implicit faith in the efficacy of the exordia,
told me that he had had no other hallucinations. Mr. O., he said,
went first into the room, and drew the attention of the others to the
figure, which disappeared almost instantaneously. Neither Mr. D. nor
Mr. C. could remember accurately the position of the light ; but they
thought it probable, on the whole, that Mr. O. carried a light in his
hand, and that there was no other light, except through the uncurtained
windows, in the room where the figure was seen. Mr. O., who is
extremely deaf, appears to have heard the noise on the first evening
with perfect distinctness. Mr. O. has had other sensory hallucinations
which may have been veridical. Mr. C. gave me an account of the in*
cident corresponding with those given by Mr. D. and Mr. 0.9 except that,
as he described it, he only saw the end of a woman's dress disappearing
round the door. Mr. C. also gave me an account of a hallucination,
resembling the human figure, which he had seen only a few weeks
previously in his own room, when, apparently, in normal health.
We have been unable, so far, to induce Mr. C. to give us a written
account of his experiences.
Finally, I subjoin an extract from a newspaper of April 5th, 1879,
relating to a suicide which took place in the house: —
Singular Case of Suicide.— The Coroner held an inquest on Satur-
day at the Inn, on the body of Mrs. M. F., aged 42 years, who com-
mitted suicide by hanging herself on the previous day. Deceased, a
lodging-house keeper in road,1 had more than once threatened to
destroy hersolf, but no importance was attached to what she said. On
Friday, however, she sent a letter to a friend saying that she would never
be seen alive again in this world ; but this, like her previous assertions, was
regarded as an empty threat, and it was not until Mr. B. . . .
lodging at her house, missed her, and mentioned the fact to a relative, that
any notice was taken of the letter. The house was then searched, and
1 The number of the house is not given in the newspaper report ; bat it has
ascertained from the police records of suicides.
1889.] from Another Point of View. 269
deceased Was discovered hanging by a skipping-rope to a peg behind the
door of the top back bedroom, quite dead. The jury returned a verdict,
" Suicide whilst in a state of unsound mind.'1
[Date of Suicide— March 28th, 1879.]
Here again it will be noticed that before anything of an unusual
character is seen in the house a nervous state had been induced in the
occupants in each case by the unaccountable noises which were heard.
In the case of Miss Morris the phantasm was of a constant type. But
with the subsequent tenants a general hallucinatory diathesis, almost
comparable with that of the famous Mrs. A., appears to have been estab-
lished, and the ghosts are multiform. The evidence of the third
group of witnesses possesses little independent value. All three were
acquainted with what had already taken place in the house : their
general attitude towards the subject is illustrated by the fact that one
of their number afterwards performed an act of exorcism in the
house, with all due ceremonial observances : and two of them had
previously experienced visual hallucinations.
The least readily explicable feature in the story is the appearance
of phantasms to two independent groups of observers, the second of
whom were almost certainly ignorant of the experiences of their prede-
cessors. This may have been a mere coincidence ; or the apparitions,
which, it will be observed, were entirely dissimilar, may have, in each case,
been generated by the alarm caused by the occurrence of inexplicable
noises, themselves possibly to be explained as hallucinatory superstruc-
tures built up round a nucleus of real sounds, just as we know from
the experiments of MM. Binet and Fere* that visual hallucinations may
be constructed on an external point de repere. Or it is permissible to
conjecture that the later experiences may have been started by thought-
transference from Miss Morris, whose thoughts, no doubt, occasionally
turned to the house in which she had suffered so much agitation and
alarm.
Readers to whom such a conjecture seems beyond the bounds of
probability are reminded that the alternative explanation is not that of
a semi-corporeal ghostly entity, capable of uttering expressive sighs and
displacing the kitchen furniture. Such a conception may conceivably
have appeared adequate at an earlier stage of the investigation. Such
a conception, in a less crude form and with less explicitness, may still
appeal to some as the simplest interpretation of the facts. But it is not
held by Mr. Myers. He has anticipated me in pointing out that, how-
ever caused, the phenomena are of the nature of hallucinations. There
has been no displacement of the kitchen furniture, the sighs heard were
conveyed by no aerial vibrations. To him the manifestations seem to
reflect " a dead man's incoherent dream." To ine it \& not c\ss\sw& n*\v^
270 . Phantasms of ike D*ad [No*. J9,
the dreams of the living should poaacaa leas potency than the imagfafrt
dreams of the unknown dead.
So far there has been no attempt to identify the phantasms. Indaei
so many dissimilar figures have been recorded in the last tarn narratm
that any attempt at identification must necessarily have been attended
with considerable difficulties. But, as already said* in a large number o£
cases an attempt is made to trace the origin of the phantasm. The two
following cases supply very good examples. In the first case (G. 188)
we have the evidence of four witnesses, who testify to having seen the
figure of a child in the house. And we have in our possession a certifi-
cate of the death of the child who, as stated by one of the narraton,
died in the house some years before the apparition waa seen. Thefint
account is written by Mrs. H., wife of a doctor in a small provincial
town ; and, as we learn from her, Dr. H. has seen and admitted the.
correctness of what she has written, so that his evidence is practically
first-hand. We owe this narrative to Mr. More Adey, of Wotton-
under-Edge, who has seen some of the persons concerned; and the
original accounts, which are undated, appear to have been sent to him
in the latter part of 1883.
G. 188.
Some years ago (perhaps about 20 or more), we happened to be having one
of our usual small gatherings for a musical evening, when the careumstanoa
happened which I am going to relate. My husband had been detained Tinting
patients until rather late, returning home about 9 o'clock, fie was running
upstairs in his usual quick way, three or four steps at a time, to go to his
dressing-room and dress for the evening, when, on turning the first flight of
stall's, he was rather startled to see on the landing (a few steps higher) a little
child, who ran before him into my room. My little boy B., about two or
three years of age, was at that time sleeping in a small child's bed at my
bedside. Mr. H. followed and spoke, calling the boy by name, but he gtf*
no answer. The gas was burning on the landing outside my room, but there
was no light inside. He felt about and on the bed, but instead of finding
the child standing or sitting on the bed, as he supposed, he found him com-
fortably tucked in and fast asleep. A cold creepy feeling came over him, for
there had not possibly been time for anyone to get into the bed, which v*»
just behind the door. Ho lighted a candle, searched the room, and also »*
that the boy was unmistakably fast asleep. He expected to find one of tbt
other children, as the figure appeared to be taller than that of the boy-
When the company had gone my husband told me of the occurrence. I W
quite sure that the mystery could be solved, and that we should find H had
been one of the children, though he assured me there could be no one in the
room, as he had made a thorough search.
I still thought he might be mistaken, and fancied that it had been&
(who was a year or two older than B.), who had escaped out of the night
nursery, which was near ; that she had been listening to the music, when shl
heard someone coming, and had run into my room to hide ; but on inquiring
closely the next morning, I found she had never left her bed. We did not
1889.] from Another Point of View. 271
think much more about it, though there was still a feeling of mystery, and
we never named it to anyone. Some years afterwards it was brought to our
minds by two of my daughters having seen a child very early in the morning
it the same time, but in different rooms. One of them only saw its face.
Then, after a lapse of years, Miss A., while staying with us, saw the appari-
tion mentioned in her ghost story. Whether the appearance has been a
ghost or merely an optical delusion I cannot say, but each of those who have
seen it had never heard the slightest allusion to anything of the kind before.
If the apparition should be a ghost, I have thought that it must be the spirit
of a little girl who died in part of our house before it was added to it. When
we first came to this house, about 30 years ago, it was divided into two, the
smaller part being inhabited by a doctor. His wife died soon after we came,,
tnd a few years afterwards his little girl. I used to see her when she was.
ill, and 1 last saw her the day before she died. She had fine dark eyes, black
hair, oval face, and a pale olive complexion. This description I find exactly
agrees with those who have seen its face. None of them had ever heard me
mention the child ; indeed, I had forgotten about her until hearing of these
ghost stories. I said it must be J. M., who died here. Soon after her
death her father went abroad. As far as I remember the child was about
eight or nine years of age.
From Miss G. H.
I was up early one winter's morning just as dawn was breaking, and
there was barely light enough for me to see my way about the house ; I was
feeling tired and somewhat sleepy, but not in the slightest degree nervous.
On passing the door of a room at the head of the staircase, in which my
youngest sister slept, I perceived that it was open. Taking hold of the
handle, I was about to shut it (the door opened inwards), when I was startled
by the figure of a child, standing in a corner formed by a wardrobe which
**s placed against the wall about a foot and a-half from the doorway.
Thinking it was my sister, I exclaimed. " Oh, M., you shouldn't startle me
*> ! " and shut the door ; but in the same instant, before I had time to quit
my hold of the handle, I opened it again, feeling sure that it could not be my
lister ; and, sure enough, she was fast asleep in bed so far from the door that
it would not have been possible for her to have crossed from the door to her
bedside in the short space of time when I was closing the door. In the
corner where the child had been there was nothing, and I felt that I must
have seen a ghost, for I was suddenly seized with a feeling of horror which
could not have been caused by anything imaginary. The child had a dark
complexion, hair and eyes, and a thin oval face ; it was not white as when
men by Miss A., but it gave me a mournful look as if full of trouble. Had
ft been a living child, I should have imagined it to be one who enjoyed none
of the thoughtlessness and carelessness of childhood, but whose young life,.
°n the contrary, was filled with premature cares. Its age might be about nine
°* 10 ; its dress I could not distinguish, as I only seemed to see its head and
foe ; the expression struck me most ; so vividly did I see it that if I were
*hb to draw I could, I believe, give an accurate representation of it, even
*ow after about five years.
On telling my eldest sister A. what I had seen she said, " How very
Orioot ! I thought I saw something, too, this morning. "
272 Phantasms of the Dead [Nov. 29,
I must tell you that to reach her bedroom it was necessary to pass through
mine ; on the morning in question as she looked into my room she saw a
figure standing by a small table. Being short-sighted she thought for a
moment that it was I, though it appeared to be smaller ; and suddenly seized
with a nervous fear, most unusual with her, she called out, " Oh ! G., wait
for me." She turned for an instant to get something out of her room, and
when she looked again there was nothing to be seen. The door from my
room into the passage was shut. I was in another part of the house at the
time, and we were the only two members of the family out of bed.
From Mrs. A. (formerly Miss H.)
I believe it was between five and six in the morning my sister and self
thought we would get up early to read. We had our bedrooms close together,
with the door in the middle joining the rooms always open.
My sister had just left her room about three minutes ; when I looked
towards her room I saw a little figure in white standing near a table. I did
not see its face, but I attribute that to my being so short-sighted. Also 1 wai
so suddenly overcome with nervousness that I ran from the room.
During the morning I told my sister what I had seen ; then she gave me
her account.
Asked whether they had experienced any other hallucination, Mis*
G. H. and Mrs. A. replied in the negative. Dr. H., however, explained
that he had heard more than once strange unaccountable noises, and
from a later hitter we learn that on one occasion he had a visual
hallucination after sitting up three nights in succession.
In answer to questions, Mrs. II. writes : —
December ll//i, 1883.
Strange that she [i.e., the child whom the phantasm was supposed to
resemble] did not die in our house, but in the next one to it, which lias sine©
been added. It was originally all in one. It is since the two houses have
been joined that the child appeared, and to three, Mr. H., (t., and Miss A.,
in our old part. But when Mrs. A. saw it, it was in the very room in which
she died. When the others described the appearance of the child, then it
struck me it might be the one I knew, and when I gave a minute description
of her they said it corresponded exactly.
******
The first appearance to Mr. II. was in winter, but we do not remember
the date. On referring to other events that occurred al>out the time, I think
it must have been between January 18G3 and 18(55. The child appeared to
both my daughters on the same morning. This happened in January, 1877.
It appeared to Miss A. in July, 187-K
.1. M. died January 21st, 1854, aged 10 years. I enclose a copy of the
registration of her death.
April llth% 1885.
My husband a few weeks ago began to hear again the loud knocks which
he mentions in answer to one of your former questions. He does not say
-"uch about it, but I see that he thinks it is something supernatural.
~ want to persuade him that it is a dream, and I cannot help thinking
1889.] from Another Point of View. 273
that it may be, bat I am trying to find it out. I cannot hear the knocks.
They ceased for a few weeks, but came again two or three nights ago. I
hire begged that he will tell me when it comes again, and I shall make a
note of each time, with the surrounding circumstances.
I think I told you before that it was only my idea that the apparition of
the child might be one who died many years ago in part of our house, then
detached, and I rather mentioned it in jest at the first. Long afterwards,
however, and some time after the appearance to Miss A., when I gave a
description of the child, my daughter G. exclaimed at once that it was exactly
the same as the one she saw (she had partly described it to me before), and
the same as the face Miss A. had seen. I distinctly remember J. M. 's face,
although I have forgotten almost everything else about her.
May 20ft, 1885.
I was only two nights absent, but on my return my husband told me that
in the first night he had again heard the knocks very loud. This happened to
he the night my brother-in-law died. Still I do not think the knocks are
from any supernatural cause, though it is perhaps worth trying to find out.
Tou will see in my answers that when quite a young man he heard noises
immediately preceding a death. He has never heard anything of the kind
for many, many years, except, I think, occasional noises within the last year,
which I told you of. It is now quite six weeks, or more, since he heard a
accession of knocks, that is, at intervals of a night or two.
The following account, written by Miss J. A. A., and communicated
by her to Mr. H. C. Coote, appeared in Notes and Queries for March
20th, 1880, over the signature of H. C. C. :—
The following interesting commuiucation has been handed to me by a
young lady, who is as intelligent as she is charming. Her hereditary acumen
precludes altogether the possibility of any self-deceit in regard to her own
personal experiences as narrated by herself.
44 What I am going to relate happened to myself while staying with some
tforth-country cousins, last July, at their house in shire. I had spent
* few days there in the summer of the previous year, but without then hear-
ing or seeing anything out of the common. On my second visit, arriving
*riy in the afternoon, I went out boating with some of the family, spent a
*ery jolly evening, and finally went to bed — a little tired, perhaps, with the
day's work, but not the least nervous. I slept soundly until between three
*&d four, just when the day was beginning to break. I had been awake for
* short time when suddenly the door of my bedroom opened and shut again
ither quickly. I fancied it might be one of the servants, and called out,
'Come in ! ' After a short time the door opened again, but no one came in
—ftt least, no one that I could see. Almost at the same time that the door
°pened for the second time, I was a little startled by the rustling of some
curtains belonging to a hanging wardrobe, which stood by the side of the
M ; the rustling continued, and I was seized with a most uncomfortable
feeling, not exactly of fright, but a strange, unearthly sensation that I teas
*ot alone. I had had that feeling for some minutes, when I saw at the foot
of the bed a child about seven or nine years old. The child seemed as if it
were on the bed, and came gliding towards me as I lay. It was the figure of
274 Phantasms of the Lead [No?. 29,
a little girl in her night-dress — a little girl with dark hair and a very white
face. I tried to speak to her, but could not. She came slowly on up to the
top of the bed, and I then saw her face clearly. She seemed in great
trouble ; her hands were clasped and her eyes were turned up with a look of
entreaty, an almost agonised look. Then, slowly unclasping her hands, she
touched me on the shoulder. The hand felt icy cold, and while I strove to
speak she was gone. I felt inoro frightened after the child was gone than
before, and began to be very anxious for the time when the servant would
make her appearance. Whether I slept again or not I hardly know. But
by the time the servant did come I had almost persuaded myself that the
whole affair was nothing but a very vivid nightmare. However, when I
came down to breakfast, there were many remarks made about my not look-
ing well — it was observed that I was pale. In answer I told my cousins that
I had had a most vivid nightmare, and I remarked if I was a believer in
ghosts I should imagine I had seen one. Nothing more was said at the time
upon this subject, except that my host, who was a doctor, observed that I
had better not sleep in the room again, at any rate not alone.
" So the following night one of my cousins slept in the same room with
me. Neither of us saw or heard anything out of the way during that night
or the early morning. That being the case, I persuaded myself that what I
had seen had been only imagination, and, much against everybody's ex-
pressed wish, I insisted the next night on sleeping in the room again, and
alone. Accordingly, having retired again to the same room, I was kneeling
down at the bedside to say my prayers, when exactly the same dread ai
before came over me. The curtains of the wardrobe swayed about, and I
had the same sensation as previously, that I was not alone. I felt too
frightened to stir, when, luckily for me, one of my cousins came in for
something which she had left. (>n looking at me she exclaimed, * Have yon
seen anything ?' I said, 'No,' but told her how I felt, and, without much
persuasion being necessary, I left the room with her, and never returned to
it. When my hostess learnt what had happened (as she did immediately)
she told me